The Reborn Chronicles
by R37uy
Summary: My name is Faith Anderson. Well, that was my name before everything went south. After being struck and killed by a drunk driver, I was offered a second chance at life. Now, I travel the Unova Region with my childhood friend as my trainer, and with an evil team set on Pokemon liberation, things are starting to get weird. Borrows reborn concepts from srgeman's 'A Little Night Music'.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello Everyone! It's been absolutely ages since I last posted anything on here, and I apologize for the lack of activity on this profile. I had been having trouble thinking of a story concept that I enjoyed, and when I came up with something, it never stuck. In the last few weeks, I have been thinking of new ideas for something I think I would like to write, that I also feel like I will be able to stick with. I eventually remembered my first story I posted, which only got a few chapters out before I stopped writing for it. I personally believe that the issue was how many plot holes and cringy things were in it. I was just starting writing then, so I wasn't very good. Looking back, I think I can do a lot better now, and get far more chapters out to you guys this time around. On that note, I'll explain a bit about the story. This will be a rewrite/reimagining of my first story I ever posted on this site. This story also borrows reborn concepts from Srgemen's "A Little Night Music." I was not able to reask for permission this time around, seeing as the author of that story appears to have left the platform entirely, but hopefully if he sees this, he won't mind me using some of his mechanics. On that note I think it's time I let you guys get into the story, so until next time, make sure to give this story a review and let me know what you think of it! Happy reading!**

**The Reborn Chronicles**

Chapter 1

Hello, my name is Faith Anderson. Well, more accurately, that _was_ my name before everything got crazy. Now I go by Fern, but we'll get to that later. For now, let me tell you a bit about myself.

I grew up in Nuvema Town, a small and quiet town located in the southeastern corner of the Unova region. Nuvema Town was known mostly for it's close tie to nature, along with the fact that the regional professor, Professor Juniper, ran her laboratory there. From there, new trainers could receive their Pokemon license, as well as be gifted their first Pokemon. This is where I come into the picture, and where my story begins.

_'I did it! I finally passed the trainer's qualification exam!' _I looked down at the small card I had been given by the regional professor, Professor Juniper, about half an hour ago, and read the top of the card for what seemed like, and probably was, the thousandth time since I had gotten it.

"**Faith Anderson Trainer Rank: Rookie"**

I still couldn't believe it was finally happening. I had wanted to become a Pokemon trainer ever since I saw Cynthia, the current champion of Sinnoh, defeat the former champion and become the youngest regional champion in history at 19 years of age. I had only been six at the time, and had watched the match with my parents live on television. Cynthia had only lost four Pokemon in the battle, and I had been amazed by how powerful her Pokemon were. From that day forward, I had wanted to become a trainer and one day challenge her to a battle where we could stand on even ground.

I was pushed from my daydreams by the sound of the door to the testing room opening. Out of it walked Professor Juniper and my childhood friend Darrel Lewis. We had met back in kindergarten, and had been close friends ever since. Darrel could have left on his journey last year, but he had insisted on not choosing one of the typical starters. Darrel had always wanted to hatch his starter himself, feeling that it would allow him to form a closer bond with it. While I personally was planning on picking a Snivy for years, and even had gotten it reserved by the Professor, I respected his dedication to his soon to be Pokemon. Not just anyone would wait a whole year longer than they had to just so they could have a more personal starter.

"Im happy to say that you passed the qualification exam with a near perfect score!" Professor Juniper said with a kind smile. She then pulled a card out of a drawer on a nearby table and handed it to Darrel. "Here's your trainer card. It will serve as your identification during your journey."

As Darrel admired his snazzy new piece of plastic, Professor Juniper walked over to a small machine and pulled out Darrel's egg. The egg had been glowing over the last few days, which was a sign that it was almost ready to hatch, so she had done a full examination of it while Darrel took his exam to make sure it was healthy and to try to get an estimate of when it would hatch.

Professor Juniper gently placed the egg into an incubator with a pokeball on top, and handed it to Darrel. "Your egg is in perfect condition. It is extremely close to hatching, probably within the next forty-eight hours, so be sure you set up a safe place for it to do so as soon as you get home, if you haven't already."

Darrel gave a relieved smile as he glanced at the egg in his arms. "That's good to hear, Professor. I'm sure whatever it ends up hatching into will be the best partner I could ever hope for."

Juniper gave a small wave as I walked over to her. "Thanks for waiting, Faith. I'm happy to inform you that the Snivy you reserved is in perfect health, and will be ready for you to pick up in a few days. She seems excited to travel, and I'm sure that you will be a great trainer for her."

"Thank you, Professor, I can't wait to begin!" Juniper gave me a smile, before looking at her watch.

"Oh, I need to be going! I have to go pick up a delivery from the pokemart. Have a good day, and good luck!" She put on a thin jacket and waved as she exited the lab. Darrel and I turned to each other, and grinned.

"Well, we finally did it. We are both officially trainers!" I said giddily.

Darrel gave me a smirk. "Yeah, we are! We'll have a battle as soon as you get your Snivy, deal?"

I smirked back. "You're on!"

Darrel's egg gave out another flash, more violently this time. It lingered for a few seconds before dimming down again. He quickly got to his feet and walked towards the door, before looking back to me. "I need to hurry home and get this egg ready for when it hatches! I'll see you next week, Faith!"

I gave him a thumbs up and a smile. "See you then!"

He gave one last wave before walking out the door. Grabbing my jacket off of the rack next to the door, I followed only a few minutes later. As I stepped out of the lab, I was instantly assaulted by the chill of the breeze. Winter had come and gone, but there were still a few weeks to go before it truly began to warm into spring. I unhooked my bike from the bike rack in front of the lab, and began making my way home.

Nuvema Town may be a smaller town in terms of Unova, but it still took quite a while to get around. My house is located around a half hour from the lab when I use my bike for transportation. I never minded the trip, though. I had been to the lab several times in the past few months getting things set u for my journey, such as reserving my starter and pre-registering for the gym challenge in order to save some time once I was on the road, not to mention the absurd amount of paperwork I had been required to fill out.

My thoughts raced as I imagined my journey around Unova, my Snivy at my side. I wasn't terribly worried about the first couple of gyms. The Striaton City gym was currently run by a group of triplets, who each focused on one of the types of the starter Pokemon that a new trainer would normally receive. The way the gym worked was that the challenger would face the gym leader who focused on the type their starter was weak against. This was done to encourage beginning trainers to catch a Pokemon or two that could cover their starter's weakness, as well as helped to teach rookies not to solely rely on their first Pokemon. The gym was specifically set up this way due to most new trainers starting their adventure in Nuvema Town, as that is where most trainers receive their starter.

For me, I would be facing Chili, the fire type leader of the trio, due to me picking Snivy as my partner. He was typically known for using a Pansear as his ace for beginning trainers, and would use more advanced Pokemon such as Heatmor or Magmar against trainers who had been on the road for a while.

Each gym leader had a large diversity of Pokemon at their disposal. This allowed for them to have a team for trainers of all skill levels. For example, If someone were to challenge Roxie, the poison type gym leader of Virbank City, for their first badge, her team would consist of two Pokemon, usually a Trubbish and a Koffing. However, if you were to challenge her for your 8th and final badge, she would use a full team of six, consisting of powerhouses like Garbodor, Weezing, Muk, and a few others. Some gym leaders would even have Pokemon that weren't of their gym's official type. A good example of this is Roxie's Gliscor that she was known to use against higher end trainers, usually who had obtained at least six badges. She had given it a Toxic Orb to go with its Poison Heal ability, making it a terror of a wall if you weren't prepared for it.

I planned to travel the region along a pretty common route. I would first go to Striaton City, then I would head west to Nacrene City. From there, I would head to Castelia City, the largest city in the region, to get my third badge. From there I would head north to Nimbasa City, and begin the loop that Unova is known for. Every town on the northern part of the region is connected by popular route used by trainers and travelers going from town to town. The roads were set up in what was similar to a large circle. If you headed west from Nimbasa City, you would go through several towns and cities and eventually loop all the way around to the east entrance of Nimbasa. The rest of the gyms I planned to challenge were located around this loop.

There were actually ten commonly challenged gyms in the region, with the two I would be skipping being much farther out of the way from the route I planned to take. Maybe once I finished my gym challenge, I would go back and challenge the remaining gyms to prepare myself and my team for the Pokemon League. The Pokemon League was a massive tournament held once a year where every trainer who had managed to collect 8 gym badges would compete for the opportunity to challenge the Elite 4. The Elite 4 were known as being the strongest trainers the region had to offer, each having years of experience and extremely powerful teams. If someone managed to defeat the Elite 4, they would be able to schedule a match against the defending champion of the region. Currently, the champion was an older man named Alder. He was in his fifties, but he always seemed to show near superhuman amounts of flexibility and strength. He had become champion several years before I was born, and he had yet to even come close to losing a match.

As I continued my trip home, I noticed that the sun had begun to set. I hadn't realized I had been at the lab for as long as I had. Finally seeing my street in the distance, I began to pedal a little faster, excited to get home and tell my parents the good news and show off my shiny new trainer card to them. I smiled joyfully as I approached my street and slowed to a stop at the side of the sidewalk. There weren't many people out at this time of night, so traffic had been almost non existent on my journey home. I waited for the traffic light to turn red, and for the crosswalk to give me the signal to cross. After what felt like minutes, the signal finally turned green, and I began to cross the street. I had only made it halfway across when I heard the sound of a vehicle approaching. Suddenly, I was blinded by headlights, and looked over just in time to see someone run the light at nearly 30 mph. I had less than a second to react, barely getting out the start of a scream, before the vehicle, a van of some kind, slammed directly into me. Pain coursed through my body as I was thrown underneath of the vehicle, and I was just barely able to register the van speeding off into the distance out of the corner of my eye. I tried to move, but my body had been crippled from the force of the impact. I let out a raspy breaths, and tried to yell for help, but no matter how hard I tried, no words left my mouth. I don't know how long I stayed there, crippled and dying in the middle of the road, but it couldn't have been more than five minutes. I was able to faintly hear the sirens of an approaching ambulance, before one final jolt of pain shot up my spine, and everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So this is a first! Not only am I uploading two chapters in a single day, but two super long chapters by my standards! I plan on trying to keep chapters around the 3-4k word mark, with a bare minimum of 2k words, which is almost double the typical length of my old chapters. They always felt far too short, and I wanted to change that. Chapter 1 was just over 2k words, with this one at right around 3k. I hope you all enjoy the chapter, and make sure to review, as it helps me out a lot! Constructive criticism is something that I personally would welcome seeing, as it helps me to improve my writing. That's all I have to say before starting this chapter, so enjoy! Happy reading!**

Chapter 2

I opened my eyes, and quickly shot to my feet. Strangely, I felt no pain from the brutal impact that I had been in minutes before. I quickly looked myself over for injuries, but found that my body didn't have a scratch anywhere on it. Even the scrape I had received earlier in the week from falling off of my bike had completely vanished. Beginning to feel uncomfortable, I looked around, trying to figure out where I was, but was startled to find that there was absolutely nothing around me. I felt as if I were floating in some kind of void. Pure nothingness stretched as far as the eyes could see, no matter which way I looked. By this point, I was on the verge of freaking out.

I quickly shut my eyes, as if to hide myself from the void around me. _'It's just a dream… Just a dream….'_ No matter how hard I tried, however, I couldn't get myself to wake up from the nightmare I was having. I continued to attempt to wake myself up for several minutes before a blood-chilling thought suddenly came over my mind. _'Am… Am I dead?'_

Suddenly, there as a small flash of light. Not used to the bright light, I rapidly shielded my eyes. The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and when I opened my eyes, there was a small pink Pokemon that I didn't recognize floating in front of me.

"I'm afraid so, Faith Anderson." I quickly looked around, trying to figure out who had spoken, but I was alone with the Pokemon.

"Did… Did you just talk?!" I exclaimed, panicked. My voice sounded strange to me. It almost seemed to echo into the void, which didn't exactly help to calm me down.

The pink Pokemon, which almost resembled a kitten, let out a giggle and did a little flip in the air. "That never gets old!" The Pokemon said, seeming quite amused by my despair. "But, yes, I said that."

My head felt like it was spinning. "B-but you're a Pokemon! At least, I think you are! You shouldn't be able to talk!"

"All Pokemon can talk, it's just that humans can't understand us." He (She? I really have no idea) said, as if that would answer my question.

"Well, how can I hear you, then? And who are you?" I asked, still extremely confused. My panic had started to fade, replaced with a strange calm feeling, which I had to assume was the Pokemon's doing.

"My name is Mew, and like I said, you're dead. The language barrier only affects the living, so of course you can understand me."

'_Mew? Where have I heard that name before?'_ Suddenly, it clicked. "You're Mew?! As in, the Legendary Pokemon Mew?!"

The Pokemon, apparently a Mew, giggled and did a twirl. "The one and only!"

It took my brain a few seconds to catch up with the rest of what Mew had said. "I-I'm dead?" I felt a wave of sadness wash over me, before that calming aura covered me again.

The Mew nodded sadly. "When you were struck by that van, it broke over half of the bones in your body, and punctured several major organs. The paramedics never even had a chance to get to you before you died."

I started to tear up. "So, just like that, my life is over? Never to go on a journey or fulfill my dreams? Never able to see my friends or family ever again?" tears began to slide down my face. "Isn't there something you can do to help me? C-can't I go back?"

"I'm sorry, but there is no way to reverse what has happened. Your body is dead, and there is nothing any of the Legendaries can do to change that." Just as I was about to become a crying mess, Mew held up a paw to silence me. "Let me finish. As I said, your body is dead, and there is nothing that can be done to change that. However, there is one option available to you."

Rubbing the tears off of my face, I looked up at the small deity with the slightest glint of hope in my eyes. "O-option?"

Mew nodded. "You were not supposed to die today. In fact, had it not been for that drunk driver, you would have lived a long and healthy life."

"Why are you telling me this? I'm dead. What could have been doesn't matter anymore." I asked, confused.

"There are two options for someone who was killed before their time. The first option is obvious. I could take you to the afterlife, where you will be able to find eternal happiness, and leave all of this behind you. The second option is only available in situations like this. If you wish, I am able to return you to the world of the living. However, as your human body is dead, you will be unable to return to it."

I was shocked. He couldn't possibly mean… "As… As a Pokemon?"

Mew gave me a nod. "You will be reborn as a Pokemon. You will be able to live out the life that you were unable to as a human, and possibly even find true happiness."

My eyes filled with tears once again. This time, however, they were tears of pure joy. "What could I ever do to thank you for this?" I asked.

"You can repay me simply by enjoying your new life." the ambiguously gendered feline gave me a small smile. "I am assuming this means that you accept my offer?"

I nodded my head. "Y-yes! I accept your offer, Mew."

"I am glad," Mew stated. "I like you, Faith, so I'm going to do something special for you. Do you know the egg that your friend is raising?" I nodded, before my eyes widened.

"You will be born from that same egg, and you will be able to go on the journey you had always wanted to go on. Although it may be from a different role than you had been expecting." Mew paused momentarily. "If you can get Darrel to discover who you are, without him being directly told, then I will make it so that the language barrier between the two of you will be broken, and you will be able to speak to him as if you were speaking English."

That was something I hadn't even considered. If I was a Pokemon, then I wouldn't be able to talk to people anymore. Wait, would that mean that I could talk with Pokemon?

"I don't know what I can ever do to thank you, Mew." I said, looking into the legendary's eyes.

"It is time for you to return to the living, your egg is preparing to hatch." Mew began to let off an otherworldly glow. "Good bye, Faith." Those were the last words I heard before everything went black for the second time of the day.

* * *

I awoke to the feeling of warmth. I was surrounded on all sides by some kind of slimy substance, and seemed to be stuck in place. My body felt weak, and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep in the wonderful warmth of my prison.

"Y- -n d- -!" What was that? A voice? Everything was so muffled.

I began to press against the walls of my prison, finding them to be solid, but not unbreakable. I placed a hand (paw? I couldn't really tell quite yet) against the edge, and pushed as hard as I could. Suddenly, light filled my vision, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut to keep it from hurting my eyes.

"You're almost there! You can do it!" There was that voice again. Wait, was that Darrel? Then that means...

I placed another hand against the shell of the egg, and with one final push, broke free of my enclosure. I fell flat on my face onto a pile of towels that Darrel had apparently set up for when the egg hatched, and instantly began to shiver wildly as the cold of the outside world assaulted my new body. It only took a few seconds for Darrel to scoop me up with a bundle of towels and begin to wipe me down, getting the remaining chunks of egg and slime out of my new fur. Feeling slightly warmer by the towels I was wrapped with, I took a quick look at my surroundings. I was in Darrel's bedroom, which honestly seemed like it could do with being cleaned. Probably not the best place to raise a baby Pokemon.

A thought suddenly crossed my mind. _'Wait, what am I?'_

I tried my best to look down at myself and examine my new body, although it wasn't easy. All of my muscles felt weak, and the towels I was wrapped in didn't make things any easier. Two things stuck out to me though. First off, I had a small brown muzzle that I could just barely see at the edge of my vision. _Brown fur? _I had a minor suspicion of what I had become, but I looked down at my neck to see if I was right. Sure enough, there was a thick ring of cream colored fur that covered my upper chest and wrapped around my neck, almost like a big scarf.

"I'm an Eevee?!" I exclaimed. "Vee?!"

A paw shot to my mouth. It was a weird experience, speaking as a Pokemon. All that left my lips was a loud "Vee", but somehow I could understand what I had said perfectly, as if it were second nature.

Darrel looked at me in concern. "Is something wrong?" The other issue that I would have to deal with was not being able to be understood by people. If what Mew had said was true, if Darrel could figure out who I was, then I would be able to talk to him. I had literally no idea how to do that, though. I'd think about that later, as a sudden wave of hunger rushed through my body. Being born apparently works up a crazy appetite. Darrel seemed to notice my discomfort and picked me up, carrying me out of his room. For the first time, I was able to realize how much my senses had increased with my transformation into an Eevee. My massive new ears were much stronger than my old human ones, and I could easily hear the sounds of things happening throughout the home, such as the TV in Darrel's living room, which had been left on in the excitement of the egg hatching, from the other side of the house.

As we entered the kitchen, I found out about another sense that had been improved greatly: smell. The second we entered the kitchen, my new nose was overloaded with the smells of all of the food and ingredients that filled the room. My mouth began to water as Darrel opened the fridge, but was surprised when he pulled out a baby bottle, already filled and ready to be used.

I let out a sigh. I was a baby now, so of course I would have to eat like one too. Darrel pushed the tip of the bottle into my mouth, and almost immediately, I began to suckle. It was super embarrassing to me, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get myself to let go of the bottle. Stupid baby instincts. This lasted for several minutes, before I finally finished the bottle. Baby Eevee have to be nearly two months old before they are able to eat solid food, so it looks like I'm stuck drinking out of a baby bottle for the time being, no matter how much I hate it.

As Darrel removed the bottle from my mouth, he looked me over before smiling. "I think I'm going to name you Fern. It feels right to me."

I guess that was going to be another thing that I would have to get used to with having a new body. I ran the name through my brain a few times to get myself used to it._ 'Fern Isn't a bad name. I can get used to that.' _"Fern… I like it." I said, and nodded to him. Darrel took my response as an approval, and scratched behind one of my giant new ears. "Fern it is, then."

As we began to leave the kitchen, Darrel stopped as he remembered something. "I need to go turn off the TV before we go to bed." Darrel said. "I forgot to turn it off when you started hatching."

I gave a small "vee" of understanding, and Darrel carried me into his living room, placing me onto the couch. I tried to walk, but lost my balance immediately, and fell on my face. Darrel gave a small laugh, and picked up the remote. Just as he was preparing to turn off the television, the words "Breaking News" flashed on the screen, before fading and changing to a shot of a reporter. Curious, Darrel sat down next to me and turned up the volume, much to my displeasure. Stupid massive Eevee ears. I looked at the screen to see what was happening, and I wish I hadn't.

Along the bottom of the screen, in bold letters, read "Girl found dead in Nuvema Town: suspected hit and run." I couldn't help but feel sick to my stomach as the screen changed to show a photo of my old face. Within seconds, Darrel had me in his arms and was out the door.

* * *

Darrel ran down the street of my old house, carrying me tightly in his arms. I looked up at his face in concern as he neared my home, and my ears drooped at the almost robotic look on his face.

"I wish I could show you who I am…" I whispered sadly, instinctively giving Darrel a lick on his hand in an attempt to comfort him. He gave me a small smile, but I could tell that it wasn't genuine.

As we arrived at my home, I could see a police cruiser parked in my driveway. My heart ached when I saw my parents on the front porch, speaking with a pair of officers. They had tear stains down their faces, indicating that they had been crying. Darrel quickly approached one of the officers as he turned to look at us. "Son, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We are in the middle of an investigation."

It was at this point that my mother noticed us. "He can stay, officer. He was a f-friend of hers." The officer shrugged in indifference and continued his work.

Darrel finally spoke up, his voice cracking. "H-how did this happen, Mrs. Anderson?"

My mother wiped her eyes before responding. "The officer said that a drunk driver hit her when she was crossing the street on her bike. She… She was crippled from head to toe. They said she was d-dead by the time the ambulance arrived..!" She couldn't say anything else, as she broke down sobbing into my father's arms.

"Have they found who killed her?" Darrel asked my father after a few minutes, who took a moment to compose himself before answering.

"Oh, they found the guy, alright. He smashed his van into a light pole at 50 miles per hour. The authorities could barely get his corpse separated from the wreckage. They were able to identify him as the guy who did it because the front of his van was covered in blood. All it took was a simple DNA test and they were able to match the sample with Faith's records. I hope he's burning in hell where he belongs."

We ended up staying at my old home until well after midnight, and by the time we got back to Darrel's house, we were both exhausted, both physically and mentally. Darrel had managed to compose himself for the time being, and he let out a large yawn as he checked his watch.

"Sorry about how crazy things got today, Fern. You were born less than five hours ago, and I already dragged you halfway across town and kept you up way past your bedtime! Not the best first impressions, huh?" Normally I would have felt annoyed at being treated like a baby, even if I technically was one, but I was too tired to care. I gave him a quick lick on his hand to tell him that I forgave him, and he smiled down at me as he carried me into his room and placed me gently onto his bed.

Since I had yet to learn how to use my new legs, I simply laid down where I was as Darrel got under the covers next to me. "Tomorrow we need to teach you how to walk. I can't carry you everywhere, you know," he said to me as he settled into his pillow and prepared to get to sleep.

"You wouldn't believe how much I want to walk again," I said, even though I knew he couldn't understand me. I curled up into a ball as best as I could, like I had seen plenty of other four-legged Pokemon do in the past, and quickly fell asleep, thinking about my new life and what it might mean for my future.

**AN: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was actually much more enjoyable than my original version of this, which only included the Mew segment. I felt that that would have made the chapter way too short, so I decided to just keep going until a better stopping point occurred. This boosted the chapter from 900 words to around 3,000, and I like the end product far more than what I did for the original story. Hopefully that's a sign that I will enjoy writing this story all the way through to the end. That's all I have for today, so I'll see you guys next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hello everyone! I managed to pump out another chapter today. I like the way this one turned out, personally. I don't really have much to say this time around, so make sure to leave a review, as it helps me out a lot, and enjoy the chapter! Happy reading!**

* * *

Chapter 3

Five days had passed since I was killed and reborn as an Eevee. Being a teenager in the body of a baby is not a fun experience, let me tell you. Apart from having to be fed from a baby bottle and having a new name, I also had to learn to walk all over again.

I had honestly not expected myself to have as much trouble with walking as I did. Not only was it hard to adjust to walking on four legs instead of two, but even when I thought I had it down, my body still refused to let e walk for more than a few steps before my legs would fall out from under me. Sadly, there wasn't much I could do about this, as it was merely caused by the fragility of my newborn body, so I would have to just keep practicing and help my new body to strengthen to the point where I could hold myself up indefinitely.

I had been adjusting decently to my sudden change, even if I was still mourning for the life I had lost. I figured I would be able to fully move on within a few months. My ears twitched as I heard Darrel exit the bathroom down the hallway, and I waited patiently for him to enter his bedroom, where I had been for a majority of my time as an Eevee as of yet.

When Darrel entered the room, I took a quick look at what he was wearing. He was dressed in full black, with a pair of simple tinted sunglasses covering his eyes. I watched as he put on a plain pair of black dressing shoes, before he came over to me with a small box.

The reason he had dressed up was something that still unnerved me to no end. Today was the day of my funeral. My parents had decided to hold it today so that Darrel would be able to attend before he left on his journey. I was really not looking forward to the funeral, for obvious reasons. I had honestly hoped that Darrel would leave me at his house while he went to the service, but I was still too young to be left on my own.

Curious, I stretched my neck as far as I could in an attempt to see what Darrel was grabbing out of the box, and was surprised to see him pull out a luxury ball and a simple collar. I was a tad intrigued by the luxury ball. They were used to help the Pokemon caught with them become more friendly towards their trainer. More importantly, they were extremely expensive, causing me to wonder how Darrel had managed to get his hands on one in the first place.

I knew that I would have to be captured eventually. Otherwise, any random trainer could toss a ball at me and claim me as their own. The thought of being put into a pokeball still unnerved me, though. I had no idea what to expect when it came to being inside of the device. Would I still be conscious? Would I just be floating in stasis, awaiting my chance to be let out?

Whether I felt prepared or not, I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Since Darrel was bringing me with him to the funeral, I was required to have a ball even if I wasn't using it.

Darrel held the luxury ball in front of me so I could give it a sniff to familiarize myself with it. Of course, this was entirely unnecessary, as I already knew exactly what the device was, but I decided to just play along and smell the device. As expected, it just smelled like metal to me. I had yet to figure out how to use my new nose effectively to identify objects by scent. Scent was a skill I doubted I would be able to master any time soon.

"OK Fern, this is called a pokeball." Darrel said in a gentle voice. I tilted my head to one side cutely, deciding to play dumb and humor him. "More specifically, this is a luxury ball. I can use it to register you as my Pokemon, so that no one else can take you away. I can also use it to transport you in if the need ever arises, like if you get hurt in a battle and need to be brought to a Pokemon Center. I don't plan on using it while we travel, though. It will be used for you to sleep in whenever we stop for the night, since most hotels don't allow Pokemon outside of their balls."

That was at least something. I would have hated it if I was forced to stay in the ball while we traveled. Smiling, Darrel reached forward and tapped me gently on the nose with the luxury ball, causing me to let out a surprised noise before I was pulled into the device in a flash of red light.

The inside of the luxury ball was surprisingly spacious, and extremely fancy. I found myself in what appeared to be a large bedroom of some kind, which reminded me greatly of the five-star hotels that were always advertised on TV for travel agencies. Suddenly, I heard a clicking noise, and a flash of light pulsed out from my fur. I figured that probably meant that I had been captured.

Taking a quick look around, I noticed that there was a large round bed in one corner of the room, which was clearly far bigger than I would ever need it to be, even if I ended up evolving. Across from the bed, there was a small fireplace, which I honestly had no idea how I was expected to use, as I had no hands. I had to assume that it was simply there for decoration, and that the warmth it let off was simply artificial, probably done with some kind of high-end technology. In front of the fireplace was a small cushion to rest on while enjoying the warmth of the fire. Above the fireplace, a flat screen TV was mounted, with what appeared to be a DVD player of some kind sitting directly below it. I had no idea what the point of having a TV in a pokeball was, especially seeing as, again, I had no hands, making it seemingly impossible to turn it on.

The rest of the room was surprisingly bare, with a few empty shelves scattered around the room, and a door with a flap that seemed to lead to a bathroom of some kind. _'Am I able to decorate this place or something? Everything is so empty.'_

Deciding to ponder on that particular subject later, I took a few steps into the room so I could take a closer look. I only managed to get about halfway to the bed before my body was enveloped in light. When the light faded, I realized that I was back in Darrel's bedroom. He was looking at me with a slightly worried expression, as if he wasn't sure how I would react to the ball, but seemed relieved when I appeared to be perfectly fine with the concept.

Giving me a quick scratch, Darrel picked up the collar that he had prepared along with the ball. Since I wouldn't be traveling in my ball, I was required to wear a collar to show that I had a trainer. If I was ever separated from Darrel, I could be brought to a Pokemon Center, where the Nurse Joy on duty would be able to scan the tag and get the contact information of my trainer, so that I could be given back to him without much issue.

I didn't particularly like the idea of wearing a collar, but I would just have to get used to it. I allowed Darrel to place the collar around my neck, and thankfully it wasn't uncomfortable.

Once Darrel made sure that the collar was secure and that it wasn't too tight, he picked me up gently and we made our way out into his front yard. Darrel's parents were waiting in the car and waved for Darrel to get in as soon as they saw us. When we entered the vehicle, Darrel strapped my collar to one of the seat belts so I wouldn't fall off of the seat, and sat down next to me, buckling himself in and giving me a pat on the head.

The drive to the cemetery wasn't long, but it was more than enough time for me to become uncomfortable thinking about the funeral. No one said a word for the entire trip, instead seemingly lost deep within their thoughts. Darrel's eyes had clouded over, which made my heart ache ever so slightly. I gave him a quick lick on his hand, and he gave me a sad smile in response.

We arrived at the cemetery nearly fifteen minutes later and quickly made our way to the location where the service was being held. I was shocked at the amount of people that had shown up.

My parents were seated in the front row, both of them dressed in black from head to toe. The few friends I had from school were also here, which I had expected, but still greatly appreciated. There were also several family members among the group, which gave me a bittersweet feeling in my chest. I was happy to see that they cared enough to be here, but I was depressed to realize that this would probably be the last time I would ever see a majority of them, and they didn't even know I was here.

I ended up zoning out for most of the ceremony, lost in my thoughts and internally grieving for the life I had lost. I was brought back to reality by the feeling of Darrel getting up from his seat and walking up to the coffin to say his final words to my departed form. I attempted to avoid looking at my body as Darrel stepped up to the coffin, but I quickly got a glimpse, and couldn't help but feel sick to my stomach at how mangled the body was. When my mother had said that I had been crippled from head to toe, I hadn't expected for the damage to be as severe as it was.

The paramedics had done their best to get my body into a natural position, but it was extremely obvious that there wasn't much they could do. Both of my arms were clearly broken in multiple locations, and hung stiffly at my sides. It appeared as if the paramedics had been required to break a few extra bones in order to get me into a decent position, because otherwise my arms would have never been able to be as straight as they were. I was clothed in a fancy dress which I didn't recognize, which covered a majority of the wounds that covered my upper body. According to the autopsy report, my spine had been broken in two separate locations, and one of my lungs had burst when I was thrown under the van. It was a shock that I hadn't been killed on impact.

Even with my enhanced hearing, I had to strain my ears to pick up what Darrel was saying, his voice being nothing but a whisper. "I-I can't believe this happened, Faith. We were so close to beginning our journeys… I was going to ask you to travel with me. If we left the lab even ten seconds later, maybe you would still be here." His voice caught for a second, as he tried to compose himself, and after a couple of seconds, his face morphed into one of determination. "I promise you that I will win the Unova Conference and become champion in your honor. I don't care what it takes to get there. ...Rest well, my friend."

With those final words, Darrel carried me back to our seat, and the ceremony continued as planned. Once again, I managed to zone out the rest of the funeral. This time, however, my mind was entirely focused on Darrel's words. It hurt me to no end to see him in so much pain over my death.

I felt a rush of happiness as I recalled his final promise to me. Darrel's goal as a trainer had never been to become champion, or even really to win a conference. He merely wanted to travel and see what the world had to offer. Darrel had planned on competing in the conference from the start, but he had always made it clear that he wouldn't care that much if he couldn't make it very far into the tournament.

It has always been my dream to defeat Alder and become Unova's champion, and Darrel had always supported me even though my goal was a tad on the ambitious side, but never once had he shown any interest in doing the same. Hearing him promise to change his goals as a trainer to such a large degree in my honor pulled fiercely at my heart strings. I had to try my absolute hardest in order to avoid getting emotional as the funeral finally began to come to an end.

As Darrel stood from his seat, holding me in his arms, I noticed someone approaching that I honestly hadn't expected to be here. "Professor Juniper?" I said to no one in particular.

Darrel turned to see what I was looking at, and smiled when he saw Professor Juniper walk up to us. "Oh hello, Professor. What are you doing here?" Darrel asked.

Professor Juniper's face became full of sorrow. "As soon as I heard the news, I made sure to figure out when the funeral was being held. I felt inclined to be here, seeing as I was one of the last people to speak to her before…" Her voice trailed off.

Darrel nodded sadly. "I still can't believe she's gone. She would have been getting her Snivy tomorrow, and been able to finally follow her dreams. All of that, taken away in an instant."

Professor Juniper finally noticed me in Darrel's arms, and gave me a bright smile. "On a brighter note, it looks like your egg hatched!"

"Yeah, it hatched about two hours after I left your lab. I named her Fern." Darrel looked down at me expectantly. "Say hi, Fern."

"Hello," I said, waving with a paw. I still found it annoying having to be treated like a baby, but there wasn't anything I could do about it, so I just decided to roll with it for the time being.

"Can I hold her?" Juniper asked. Darrel shrugged and handed me gently to the professor, who instantly began gushing over my cuteness. After a few minutes, I was handed back to Darrel, who seemed amused by the professor's antics.

"Oh, I almost forgot the whole reason I wanted to talk to you!" Juniper exclaimed, suddenly. "I want you to meet me at the lab tomorrow morning before you leave on your journey. I have a couple of things I need to give you."

Oh, yeah. I had completely forgotten that we were leaving tomorrow. Darrel had decided to leave pretty much as soon as my funeral was held, which ended up lining up with the date that we had originally planned to leave on before this whole mess happened.

After agreeing to meet up with the professor the following morning, Darrel said his goodbyes to Juniper, and we finally left for home.

* * *

Once we arrived at Darrel's house, he instantly began packing his supplies for the following morning. He had agreed to meet up with the professor before she opened the lab, so we would be getting up nearly an hour before sunrise if we wanted to get there in time.

We ended up staying up until just after 11 pm, with Darrel making sure that he had everything prepared. It would kind of suck to be a couple days into the trip to realize we forgot toothpaste or something, after all. Getting to sleep was easy that night. I simply curled up at the end of Darrel's bed, which had become my typical spot to sleep, and within minutes, I was dreaming of all the adventures we would be having, starting tomorrow.

* * *

**AN: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I hope you are all looking forward to the start of the journey! The first party member will be appearing in the next chapter, so I think it will probably end up being a longer chapter than usual. That's all I have for today, so make sure to leave a review, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hello everyone! Today's chapter is probably my favorite chapter I've written so far, and it's also the longest, at almost 4000 words! As always, make sure to review, as it helps me out a lot! I hope you all enjoy the chapter! Happy reading!**

* * *

Chapter 4

The morning came quickly, and with it, my new arch nemesis. Darrel's alarm clock went off at around 4:30 am, one which he had only set for the first time last night. Let's just say that enhanced hearing is both a blessing and a curse. Here I am, sleeping peacefully at the end of Darrel's bed, when I'm suddenly jolted awake by a sound so high pitched that it made my brain throb. When I say I was jolted awake, I mean I nearly had a heart attack and leapt a literal three feet into the air. Luckily, Darrel managed to catch me before I hit the floor

I glared daggers up at him as he burst out laughing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. That was just too funny!" Darrel managed to say between fits of giggles. I stuck my tongue out at him, and of course, this only made him laugh harder.

I puffed out my cheeks in annoyance. "Let's see how you like being woken up to the sound of a freaking air horn…" I grumbled.

Eventually, Darrel decided to stop laughing and actually get ready to head out to Professor Juniper's lab. Slipping on a pair of finger-less gloves, he picked up his bag off of his desk and took one last look around his room. "Well, it looks like it's finally happening. Time to go out there and show those gym leaders who's boss! Right, Fern?"

I let out a laugh. "I've been ready for years!"

Darrel smiled. "I'll take that as a yes. You ready to hit the road? We need to try and make it to Professor Juniper's lab before it opens." I gave my affirmative and Darrel scooped me up into his arms.

Before we left the house, Darrel made sure to say goodbye to his parents, as he probably wouldn't be home for at least a year due to the league challenge. We ended up getting out the door nearly half an hour later, meaning we had to rush to Professor Juniper's lab. Much to my displeasure, this meant we were forced to take Darrel's bike. He had decided to leave it at the lab so his parents could pick it up at a later date.

Now, I have nothing against bikes. I actually still enjoy riding them even after all that's happened, but they tended to bring up bad memories. Darrel's bike was painted a solid blue, and it had a little basket on the front of the handlebars, which explained how he got my egg back and forth from the lab last week. Getting onto the bike, Darrel gently placed my slightly trembling form into the basket. Luckily, he hadn't noticed my discomfort.

As we began our trek across Nuvema Town, I went from being a nervous wreck to leaning into the breeze to let it blow through my fur. It was surprisingly enjoyable just letting the wind wash over my face.

"Enjoying yourself?" Darrel asked, amused.

" is fun!" I had begun to get to the point of not really caring whether Darrel understood what I was saying or not. My excitement for the journey ahead had actually started to help me get my mind off of the events of the past week and start enjoying my time as an Eevee. Of course, I still hadn't forgotten about my little deal with Mew, but for the time being I was content just enjoying the cool spring breeze.

As we arrived at the lab, I could just barely see the beginnings of sunrise over the horizon. It looked like it was going to be a good day for traveling. We planned to get halfway between here and Accumula Town by the time we stopped for the night, and hopefully we could reach Accumula Town by the end of our second day on the road.

Darrel walked up to the front door of the lab and rung the doorbell. It was easy for my new ears to pick up the sound of the doorbell echoing throughout the lab, and I even managed to hear Juniper as she approached the door. I beamed to myself, pleased with my progress with my enhanced senses, as Juniper opened the door to the lab.

She was dressed in her normal lab coat, and greeted us with a smile. "Hello, Darrel. Hello, Fern." She reached down and rubbed my head, causing me to let out a happy noise. What? I'm allowed to enjoy being pet too, you know.

Juniper led us into the main room of the lab, before turning to us. "Would you mind putting Fern in her pokeball for a second? I'll run a quick examination to make sure she is ready to travel."

"Yeah, sure," Darrel said, unclipping my luxury ball from his belt.

Professor Juniper seemed surprised by the ball. "Is that a luxury ball? Where on earth did you manage to get one of those?"

Darrel smiled. "Well, I did a ton of research on a lot of things that I might need for my journey. Pokeballs happened to be on the list. I saw that luxury balls are known for being the most comfortable type of ball, and I also found out that when using a luxury ball on your starter, all Pokemon registered to the same trainer are actually placed within the same environment when they are in their balls. It's actually quite similar to the ranch you run, except fancier, in a sense."

Wait, luxury balls could do that? I'd never heard of that before. That would actually explain why they were so expensive compared to other specialty balls. I guess it also meant that I would be sharing the super fancy bedroom with any other Pokemon that we managed to catch throughout our journey. Eh, it would be nice to have company, at the least. That still didn't explain how he got his hands on the ball, though.

Juniper seemed impressed. "I've got to admit, I'm impressed with your research. But you still didn't explain how you got it in the first place."

Darrel grinned. "Once I saw how advanced luxury balls were, I knew I wanted one for my team, so I did some research on where I could find one. As you can probably guess, I couldn't find one even close to being within my budget. As I was browsing, I came across a contest being held by Silph Co. in Kanto. They were giving away a large amount of credit to be used at their store to the first person who was able to send them a picture of an egg belonging to a Pokemon that they had predetermined. I had just gotten Fern's egg, at the time, so I snapped a quick photo and submitted it to test my luck. Low and behold, the winning Pokemon egg ended up being Eevee. I used most of my winnings to buy the luxury ball, and put the rest towards stuff for my journey, like a tent and some potions." Darrel took a deep breath, having finished his story and in need of an oxygen refill.

"I guess that just means that Fern's a lucky little Eevee, isn't she!" Juniper said, giving me a bright smile.

"You don't even know the half of it," I said, my mind rushing back to my close call with death.

Darrel suddenly pointed the ball at me. "Oh, yeah. You were going to run an examination. I'll let you back out in a minute Fern. return."

I allowed myself to be absorbed by the ball, and found myself back in the confines of the fancy hotel room, as I had begun calling it. Deciding to get a better look around while I could, I hopped up onto the bed, and found myself sinking into the memory foam. I couldn't believe how comfortable this bed was! It felt like I was laying on a cloud or something!

Suddenly, I felt a rush of soothing energy fill the room, and within seconds all of my exhaustion from the last few days vanished in a flash. That must have been Juniper's healing machine. Each Pokemon Center and Pokemon lab had one of them, after all.

From my spot on the bed, I was able to get a much better view of the room around. Being so small has to be one of the most annoying things about my change. There was a small table between the bed and the wall, and I noticed that there was a small remote sitting on it. I had to assume that it went to the TV, but the buttons were clearly too small for my paws to use effectively, making it seemingly useless.

_'Maybe one of the Pokemon we catch will be able to use it.' _I thought to myself.

A flash of light tore me from my thoughts, and I found myself back in the lab. I guess the professor had finished her examination. This time, I found myself on the floor next to Darrell. Shrugging, I figured I may as well get some walking practice in.

"Fern seems to be in perfect health," Juniper said with a smile. "You've done a good job raising her so far."

"Thank you professor," Darrel said appreciatively.

The professor smiled, before giving me an observing look. "There is one thing that was odd, though," she said, before adding quickly. "Oh, It's nothing bad, of course! When I was examining Fern's brain through the scanner, I noticed that it is actually far more developed than what a typical Eevee would have at this point in their lives."

I tilted my head in interest. _'It must be because of my past life.'_

Darrel seemed slightly concerned. "That's not going to cause any health issues down the line, will it?"

Juniper smiled reassuringly. "No, of course not! In fact, it mostly just means that she will probably be a quick learner. It's likely that she will learn moves at a faster pace than other Eevee. I wouldn't even be surprised if she manages to figure out some attacks that Eevee don't learn naturally. Of course, that's not a guarantee."

"So you're super lucky and super smart, Fern," Darrel said, looking down at me with a smile. 'I couldn't have possibly asked for a better starter." I couldn't help but beam at Darrel's praise.

Juniper checked her watch. "The lab opens in half an hour. We should probably get on with the reason I asked you to come. Wait here for a moment."

Darrel and I watched as the professor walked into the back room. We looked at each other, confused, yet curious. After about thirty seconds, Juniper came back into the room holding a tray. Realization flashed in my eyes as I saw the small red device and a set of pokeballs.

"I had planned to give these to you the last time you were here, but they hadn't come in the mail yet," Juniper said, handing the pokedex and five pokeballs to Darrel. "Your pokedex comes with a preinstalled map of Unova, and it can tell you basic statistics about any Pokemon you obtain simply by pointing the camera at it."

Deciding to test it out, Darrel pointed the pokedex at me and pressed a button. As if by magic, a robotic voice spoke up from the machine. _"This Eevee is female and currently knows the moves Tackle, Growl, and Sand Attack."_

"Wow, that's really cool!" Darrel exclaimed.

Professor Juniper then handed Darrel the five pokeballs. "I don't know if you already have some pokeballs or not, but I figured it couldn't hurt to give you a few."

"Thank you Professor. This helps a lot," Darrel said.

"It's no problem, but I actually have one more gift for you," Juniper said. She reached into a pocket on her lab coat, and pulled out a simple red and white pokeball.

"If you remember correctly, before Faith, w-well, before the incident, Faith had reserved a Snivy to be her starter, Juniper frowned. "Well, because of what happened, the Snivy she reserved no longer has a trainer to pick her. You are the last trainer set up to leave on a journey for the next few months. I thought that since Faith was a close friend of yours, you would like to have the Snivy that she reserved." With that said, she opened the ball and released the Pokemon inside. There was a flash of light, and standing on the floor in front of me was the same Snivy that would have been my starter.

The as of yet unnamed Snivy blinked for a second to adjust her eyes to the light, before giving me a smile and a wave. "Hello. I've never met an Eevee before. Do you have a name?"

I nearly choked on my spit. "Y-you talked!"

The Snivy looked at me strangely. "Of course I talked. Why wouldn't I be able to talk?"

I blushed, trying to come up with an excuse for my outburst. "Uh, I hatched a few days ago. I've never met another Pokemon until now."

She gave me a look that told me she didn't believe me, but dropped the subject for the time being. "Well, do you have a name?"

Trying to hide my embarrassment, I quickly responded. "Faith, what's your name?" Damn it me. Why did I say Faith?! Now I was going to have to explain why I had two names when Darrel called me Fern!

The Snivy flashed me a smile. "Nice to meet you, Faith. I don't have a name yet. Most Pokemon aren't given names unless they have a trainer."

"That's odd. Well, Darrel will give you a great name. I'm sure of it!" I said reassuringly.

"Well, It looks like they're getting along all right," Darrel said, watching our interaction with interest. "Are you sure it's ok for me to take her? I mean, I thought that Snivy could only be given out as starters."

Juniper laughed. "It's perfectly fine. Snivy are hard to come by, but it's still possible to come across them in the wild. The ones that I give out are given to me by a league affiliated breeder. There are no rules saying I can't give you one, and if anyone asks, I'll just say that I let you choose one of the Unova starters because you started with an Eevee, and I wanted to give you the chance to choose one of them."

"Well, if you're sure it's ok, then I'd be glad to take her along! It looks like she's already made friends with Fern, anyways." Darrel said, watching us as we made small talk.

"Here's her pokeball. It should already be registered to you," Juniper said, pleased. "I had a feeling you would accept. Now, you should probably head out. The lab opens in ten minutes and I'm sure you want to make decent progress to Accumula Town before it gets dark."

Darrel nodded. "Yes, thank you professor. I'll make sure to take good care of Ivy, as well."

Snivy paused in the middle of our conversation about her favorite types of berries. "Ivy? Is that my name?" She asked, confused. "Actually, I kind of like it. It's simple, but it rolls nicely off the tongue."

I gave her a smile. "See? I told you Darrel would give you a good name! Welcome aboard, Ivy!"

* * *

We ended up leaving the lab right as it opened for the day. I had elected to walk for the time being so I could get to know Ivy a little better. Darrel had allowed her to stay out of her ball for the time being when he saw us conversing merrily. By the time we made it onto Route 1, the sun had risen into the sky, and the chill of the morning breeze had been replaced by a gentle warmth.

"So," Ivy said. "Have you ever considered what you want to evolve into? You've got a lot of options available to you."

I frowned. "I've actually not put much thought into it. I've always loved fairy types, but I'm not sure if I can envision myself as a Sylveon. And you're a grass type, so I don't really want to be a Leafeon. I wouldn't want the team to be too weak to any specific type. Other than that, I'm not really sure. What about you? Are you excited about the chance to become a Serperior?"

Ivy cringed. "I'll be honest with you. I actually don't want to evolve. The thought of not having arms or legs anymore really bothers me."

"Oh, trust me, I've been there," I said with a sigh.

Ivy gave me a look. "You know, Faith, I've been wondering about some stuff. Ever since we met, you've been acting strange. You were surprised when I talked to you. You say your name is Faith, even though Darrel calls you Fern, and now you're saying things that don't make any sense. You said that you've always loved fairy types even though according to you, you hatched less than a week ago. And just now you said that you are bothered by not having arms or legs. You're an Eevee! None of your evolutions lose their legs. Can you please tell me what's going on? We're teammates, after all!"

I cringed. I really needed to work keeping my mouth shut. Letting out a defeated sigh, I turned to her. "If I tell you, will you promise not to laugh?"

"I promise."

"Ok, I'll get the bombshell out of the way first," I said, looking into her eyes. "I'm not an Eevee, or at least, I wasn't always one."

If Ivy was surprised, she didn't show it. "Not that I don't believe you, but if you weren't always an Eevee, then what were you originally, and why are you an Eevee now?"

"As for what I was originally, I was human. That's why I said that I understood not being fond of loosing your arms. As for why I'm an Eevee…" My voice trailed off for a second, before I caught myself. "I was k-killed."

Ivy let out a small gasp, and looked at me with wide eyes. "Killed? You mean you were murdered?"

"Not exactly. I was run over by a drunk driver on my way home from Juniper's lab last week. My body was mangled, and I only lasted a few seconds before I d-died." A tear ran down my cheek as I recalled the horrific event, which Ivy noticed. She gave me a hug with her vines.

"Oh, you poor thing! I can't even imagine what you've been through. I'm curious as to why you became an Eevee, but I understand if you don't want to talk about it anymore."  
I gave her a sad smile. "No, it's ok. It helps to talk about it, and I wasn't lying when I said that you were the first Pokemon I met since I was given this body. It's nice to finally be able to talk to someone again. It was hard to get used to the fact that I couldn't talk to Darrel anymore."

Suddenly, Ivy's eyes widened. "Wait a minute, you said you died last week in an accident, and that you knew Darrel in your past life. You can't possibly mean…"

"You guessed it. I was Faith Anderson, the girl who reserved you as her starter. It's weird how things worked out. Now, instead of being your trainer, I ended up being your teammate!" I laughed. "To be honest, being the one who actually battles sounds far more fun than just standing back and issuing commands. I'm sad for the life I lost, but at the same time, I'm just happy I'm still alive. And hey, I've got to admit that being an Eevee has its perks! If I wasn't an Eevee, then I wouldn't be able to talk to you or any other Pokemon. On top of that, Mew said that if I can get Darrel to discover who I am without him being directly told, then he will be able to understand me again, and we will be able to talk freely to each other."

Ivy smiled sympathetically at me. "It's nice that you are able to look on the bright side of something so tragic. If I was in your place, then I don't know how I would be able to handle it." My words caught took a moment to sink in, before she suddenly exclaimed. "Wait, Mew? You mean the legendary Pokemon Mew? You met Mew?"

I grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I kind of skipped over that part. After I died, I ended up in some kind of weird void. Mew was there, and he… Er, actually I have no idea what gender Mew is. Eh, whatever. Anyways, Mew told me that my death had come far too early, and that I was supposed to live a long, healthy life. Because of that, he offered me the chance to be reborn as a Pokemon so I could live out the life I was meant to have. I didn't actually know what Pokemon I was going to end up as at the time. I guess I just kind of trusted Mew to turn me into something that I would be happy with. He then said that he would make it so I would hatch out of the egg Darrel was watching, and that if he can figure out who I am, he will be able to understand everything that I say, allowing us to be able to communicate again. I accepted the deal, and you know the rest." I paused to catch my breath. "I really hope I don't have to explain that to each Pokemon we catch."

Ivy laughed. "I'd say you probably will." She looked me in the eyes. "I just want you to know that I'm glad you are ok. When I heard that the trainer who had reserved me had died, I was really upset that I wouldn't be able to meet you."

I smiled softly. "Thanks, Ivy. That means a lot to me."

Our heart-to-heart was cut short as a young boy came running up to Darrel. "Hey! Are you a trainer?"

I looked at Ivy in confusion. "Er, does that not see the Eevee and Snivy standing here?" Ivy shrugged with an amused smirk.

"Yeah, I'm a trainer. Did you want to battle?" Darrel asked.

The boy grinned. "Yeah! One on one?"

"Sure, Fern, you ready for your first battle?" Oh boy.

Nervously, I walked in front of Darrel. I had no idea what to expect when it came to battling, and decided to just do my best and try not to get my butt kicked. The boy pulled out a pokeball and tossed it. With a burst of light, I was face to face with a Patrat. Well, I guess it was now or never. Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself for my first battle.

* * *

**AN: I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! This one was a blast to write. I had a lot of fun messing around with some ideas I had been tossing around. What did you guys think about the luxury ball idea? I know it doesn't make sense canonically, but I have some fun ideas planned for it, so I hope you all look forward to it! As always, be sure to leave a review, as it helps me out a ton! I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hello everyone! It's time for another chapter! This one ended up being a little under 3000 words, which is a bit shorter than the last one, but hopefully you all will find it enjoyable regardless! I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

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Chapter 5

_'Patrat aren't very tough. Yeah, I can do this.'_ I thought, trying to encourage myself.

Silence hung between us for a few moments, before the youngster decided to make the first move. "Patrat, use tackle!"

"Jump to the side and blind it with Sand Attack!" I followed orders immediately, hopping out of the way of the Patrat with ease. As it charged past me, I turned and used my hind feet to kick sand into its face. Caught off guard, the Patrat rapidly began trying to rub the sand out of its eyes.

Seeing an opportunity, Darrel quickly shouted out another command. "Tackle while it's distracted!"

Nodding an affirmative, I took off running at the Patrat, ramming it with as much force as I could manage. It cried in pain, but didn't appear to be out of the fight yet.

"Use Leer, Patrat!" At the sound of its trainer's voice, the Patrat looked me in the eye and gave me a sharp glare. It didn't intimidate me in the slightest, but I could feel the effect of the attack wash over me, lowering my defense.

"Use Tackle, Fern!" Darrel called.

"You too, Patrat!" cried the opposing trainer.

I charged at the Patrat, who quickly began to do the same. We met each other halfway across the field, the impact causing us to go flying backwards. I landed at Darrel's feet.. _'Holy hell, that hurt!' _I thought to myself as I rose to my feet with clenched teeth. I hadn't expected a simple tackle to hurt so much. Stupid debuffs.

Looking across the clearing, I noticed that the Patrat was lying on its back, completely out cold. It took a moment for it to sink in that I had won.  
"I… I won?" I said to myself in shock. "I won!"

"Great job, Fern! I knew you could do it!" Darrel praised as he walked over to shake the other trainer's hand.

"That was a good battle! Your Eevee was amazing!" The boy said, pulling a few bills out of his pocket. "Here's your winnings, by the way."

Darrel accepted the small sum of money, and smiled. "Thanks, your Partrat wasn't half bad, either."

As quickly as the boy appeared, he vanished into the woods alongside the road, presumably looking for more Pokemon to catch.

Ivy walked up to me with a grin. "Congratulations winning your first battle! How does it feel to be the one doing the fighting?"

"It's a lot different than I imagined it would be like. Everything just felt so natural! I don't even know how I used those attacks. I haven't used them at all before now," I said.

"Yep, that's how it was for me as well. All Pokemon are born knowing a couple basic attacks. They are completely instinctive so they don't really require must practice in advance, unlike most moves that are learned later on." Ivy said informatively. "So, did you enjoy the battle?"

"Definitely! I can't wait to give it another go!" I said.

Ivy laughed. "Just make sure to leave some for me!"

* * *

The rest of the day passed without much excitement. Darrel ended up using Ivy to battle another trainer a few hours later. It had been a young girl who used a Lillipup. Ivy won the battle with little difficulty, using her vines to keep her opponent at a distance while also beating them silly in the process.

Just before we had dinner, Darrel sprayed us with a potion to help us recover from our battles. The medicine stung slightly when it made contact with the bruise I had received from the Patrat, but I was surprised at how quickly the chemical took effect. In the span of only a few seconds, the bruise had completely disappeared.

I watched Ivy eat a stack of berries out of bowl with envy as I suckled on the bottle Darrel had brought along for me. I can't wait until I can eat solid food again. Thankfully, I finished the bottle after only a few minutes, and Darrel set me down gently next to Ivy, who was just finishing off her last Pecha Berry.

"You don't know how jealous I am of you right now," I said with a sigh.

"Hey, don't be that way," Ivy said, licking the juice off her lips. "That stuff isn't too bad, and it's good for you too."

"I know, but it's super embarrassing having to drink out of a bottle! Plus, it would be nice to have a little diversity. I haven't had anything but milk since I became an Eevee," I said with a sigh. "I hate being a baby."

Ivy gave me a sympathetic smile. "It's only for a couple months so your teeth can grow in fully. Just hang in there, ok?"

"Yeah, I know," I said, watching as Darrel struggled to set up his tent. I couldn't help but laugh as the tent fell apart as Darrel tried to put the final piece into place.

It was nearly an hour later when Darrel finally got his campsite set up. Letting out a yawn, he pulled out our pokeballs. "Well, I think it's time to hit the hay. You two will have to sleep in your balls. I've got to admit, having that luxury ball will help a lot. You two get along, alright?"

To show him we understood, I gave Ivy a high five with a paw. Darrel laughed. "Alright, I believe you. See you guys in the morning." With that said, he returned us to our balls, and crawled into his tent to get some rest.

I quickly found myself back inside of the bedroom, which to be honest, I needed to give a better name, considering it was basically a secondary home of sorts. Wait, wasn't Ivy supposed to be here too?

As if on cue, there was a quick flash of light, and Ivy appeared next to me. She looked around the room to familiarize herself with it, and whistled. "Not a bad setup."

I laughed. "It could be better. It's a tad empty, and I can't even use the TV since I don't have arms."

Ivy went over to the bed and used a vine to pick up the remote. "I can turn it on for you, if you'd like."

"That would be great, thanks," I said appreciatively. "Although I'm not sure this place has cable, and we don't have any movies."

Ivy flipped on the TV, and I was surprised to see a menu appear on the screen. There was an option to use the dvd player, as well as other typical things like volume settings, but what confused me was the icon in the top left corner of the screen..

"There's a store? How does that even work?" I asked no one in particular. Curious, Ivy clicked on it, and the screen changed to show a neatly organized web page.

Before she could click on anything else, a video of an Alakazam suddenly popped up on the screen. "Hello," It began. "If you are watching this video, then it means that you have found the Virtual PokeMart application on the TV of your luxury ball. This video is to help you get started with the service, and start decorating your room with anything you could possibly imagine."  
Ivy and I looked at each other, completely lost. We turned back to the screen as the Alakazam began to write on a chalkboard behind him.

"Let me explain how this service works. Whenever a trainer wins a battle, they receive prize money for their victory. What do the Pokemon who battled get in return for their efforts, however? We at Silph Co. came up with this service as a way to reward Pokemon for winning battles in a similar manner. Whenever a Pokemon tied to a luxury ball wins a battle, they will receive a percent of the winnings earned by their trainer in the form of a virtual currency to be used on this app. I'm sure you're wondering why we would simply give away money like this, but you must remember that Luxury balls retail for nearly $50,000, and we at Silph Co. always make sure that our customers get their value out of any purchase. As for what we offer, the Virtual PokeMart has a large variety of items for sale, ranging from furniture, board games, snacks, and even held items if you manage to obtain enough credits. Credits are shared amongst every Pokemon tied to a luxury ball, so make sure to check with your teammates before buying anything. New items are always being added to the service, so be sure to check back often. We hope that you will continue to choose Silph Co. for all of your shopping needs." With that, the video faded, allowing access the shop.

"That's really cool, actually. Wait, did he say fifty thousand dollars?!" I said in shock. I knew luxury balls were expensive, but I hadn't realized it was that extreme. Darrel must have won a ton of money from that contest if it was able to cover one of these.

Ivy seemed excited. "Look, we already have 54 credits! It must be because of the battles we won earlier. Let's see if we can get anything!"

Disappointingly, most of the more interesting items like furniture were way over our budget. Our total was only enough to cover one or two small objects.

"Do you want to get a movie?" I asked. "They have older ones on here for 50 credits each, so we just barely afford one. The newer stuff is priced higher."

"Sure, why not? It'll give us something to do before we go to bed for the night," Ivy said. "Do you have any recommendations?"

We ended up choosing a movie that I watched as a kid about a trainer who had an Eevee that could transform between each of its evolutions at will. It was odd rewatching the movie as a Pokemon, because I was now able to understand what the Pokemon were saying as well as the people, even though nothing had changed.

The transformations between evolutions were edited extremely well. As a human, it was impossible to see how they managed the effect. As an Eevee, I found it amusing how the scriptwriters chose to handle the challenge. They had simply hired a trainer who had an Eevee and each of its evolutions, and whenever the Eevee in the movie transformed in the movie, they simply cut the recording and had the Eevee switch places with whichever one of its evolutions were required for the scene. Normally, this strategy would work fine for their movie. However, since I was now able to understand pokespeech, I learned something I found hilarious.

The group of eeveelutions that they had used for the film had entirely different voices. This could have been rubbed off as simply due to the change in species, but their was one big issue: they weren't all the same gender. To humans, this was entirely unnoticeable, but I couldn't help but burst out laughing whenever the tough male voice of the Umbreon suddenly changed to the adorable feminine voice of the Sylveon mid sentence. In their defense, they did play their roles well with what they were stuck with, but it was still utterly hilarious to me.

Ivy and I went to bed shortly after the movie ended. Once again, I was astounded by how comfortable the bed was. Even with both me and Ivy sharing the bed, there was still an almost comical amount of empty space. If I had to guess, I would assume that the bed was designed to be able to fit at least four Pokemon, although it would depend on their size. We would probably have to get another one at some point as the team grew, but hopefully we would have plenty of credits by that point.

It didn't take long for my eyelids to grow heavy, and I easily drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

Letting out a large yawn, I glanced over to Ivy as we continued onwards to Accumula Town. "I shouldn't have stayed up so late watching that movie last night," I said tiredly. "I'm exhausted."

"It was your idea to get that movie, you know," Ivy pointed out.

I sighed. "Yeah, and I regret it now. No more movies for a while, alright?"

"Sure," Ivy said. "I suggest you try to stay awake. You never know when you might have to battle, after all."

Of course, as soon as the words left her mouth, a trainer came running up to Darrell.

"You want to have a battle?" The trainer asked.

"Sure," Darrel said with a shrug. "Fern, you're up."

Giving a sigh of defeat, I shook myself in an attempt to fight off my drowsiness, and hopped in front of Darrel. The trainer, a younger looking boy, threw out a pokeball. I was slightly surprised when a Jigglypuff appeared in front of me. Jigglypuff could be found around the Route 1 area, but they were quite rare. _'Just what I need right now. A Pokemon known for putting opponents to sleep,' _I thought sarcastically._ 'My luck is terrible.'_

"Use Growl, Fern! Lower it's attack!" Heeding Darrel's advice, I let out as fierce of a growl as I could muster. Of course, since I was an Eevee, the resulting sound ended up being about as intimidating as a Caterpie.

Regardless, the attack took effect immediately. Jigglypuff cringed as it's attack was lowered, before running at me and punching me in the side. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, I was unable to dodge. The Pound attack stung, but due to the Jigglypuff's lowered attack, I was able to shrug it off rather easily.

The Jigglypuff attempted another Pound, but I managed to get out of the way, having expected it this time. Seeing that his Pokemon was having trouble, the as of yet unnamed trainer quickly called out a command. "Put that Eevee to sleep with Sing!"

"Sing? Oh cru-" That was all I managed to get out before the sound of the Jigglypuff's voice washed over me. I tried my best to zone out the noise, but within only a few seconds, my exhaustion caught up with me, and I hit the ground snoring.

* * *

When I awoke, Darrel was spraying me with a potion. My body ached horribly, and it wasn't hard to realize that I had lost. "Are you alright, Fern?" Darrel asked, concerned.

"Define alright," I said with a groan. My ears drooped. "Sorry I lost, Darrel."

Darrel seemed to pick up on my disappointment, and smiled. "Hey, don't be upset. You can't win them all! Besides, Ivy managed to pull out the win after you went down. It was close, though." Well, I guess that's something, at least.

"How are you feeling?" Ivy asked after Darrel set me down.

I groaned, stretching out my back. "Like I just smashed my head into a brick wall over and over again. What happened after I fell asleep?"

Ivy cringed. "Well, as soon as you fell asleep, the Jigglypuff basically just started punching you in the face over and over again until Darrel was forced to recall you. I went out after you, and kept the Jigglypuff from singing by covering its mouth with one of my vines. From there it was just a matter of getting some payback and smashing it into a tree until it fainted. That trainer had a Patrat as well, which was a bit more trouble, but i managed to beat it."  
I laughed. "Well, at least one of us was able to pick up the slack! Thanks, by the way."  
Ivy tilted her head. "What for?"

"For beating that Jigglypuff's face in, obviously!"

Now it was Ivy's turn to laugh. "What can I say? It was an effective strategy!"

It was at this point that we made it to the top of a hill, and were able to get an idea as to where we were. "Hey!" I exclaimed, squinting my eyes. "That's Accumula Town!"

"Seems like we made pretty good time," Ivy said with a grin. " I thought we weren't supposed to arrive until this evening."

"It's probably because of how little battles we ended up getting into. It'll be nice to be able to get some rest and relaxation after being on the road for a couple days."  
Ivy laughed. "You already had your rest and relaxation after you fought that Jigglypuff!"  
I puffed out my cheeks. "You know what I mean!"

While I was looking forward to some decent rest, I would have to wait a bit longer, as unbeknownst to to our little group, our adventure around Unova was about to change into something far larger than any of us could have possibly predicted.

* * *

**AN: Ooh… Cliffhanger! Eh, I wouldn't be surprised if you guys can figure out what I'm planning, but whatever. I hope you guys enjoyed the battle scenes. I'm not very experienced with them as of yet, so forgive me if they seem a little sloppy. I'm curious to see how you react to my ideas for the Luxury Ball. I know it makes absolutely no sense in the grand scheme of things, but I have some fun plans for things I want to do with the concept.**  
**As a final note, the movie that Fern and Ivy watched has no importance in terms of how I handle Fern's evolution. She will not be able to morph between forms, and I have actually already decided on what she will evolve into. You'll have to wait and see what that is, though, as I don't intend on letting it slip!**

**Make sure to leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter! Constructive criticism is appreciated, as it helps me improve as an author. On that note, that's all I have to say for now, so I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hello everyone! I managed to finish another chapter for you today, so I hope you enjoy! This one ended up being 3500 words, and includes an introduction to another character, as well as a bit of plot for later on. Can any of you find the Easter egg I hid in this chapter? Here's a hint. It's a reference to another game in the series. On that note, I'll leave you guys to enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 6

Darrel stretched as we walked out of the Accumula Town Pokemon Center. We had stopped to heal Ivy and I, as well as get some lunch. Pokemon Centers are always a very important stop for any trainer's journey. They offered free use of their healing machine, as well as having free meals and rooms for trainers on the road.

"You two ready to hit the road again? If we leave now, we can make a decent start to Striaton City by the time we stop for the night," Darrel asked, checking the map on his pokedex. "According to this, Striaton City is about a weeks journey if we travel by foot. That will give us a pretty good amount of time to train up for the gym."

"I'm ready whenever you are," I said with an excited grin. I was looking forward to the gym battle. It would allow me to finally see where I stood against stronger opponents. Plus, I wanted to prove myself after my loss against that Jigglypuff earlier.

"What she said," Ivy said, pointing at me.

We had only made it halfway through town by the time we came across a large crowd of people, all murmuring quietly amongst themselves. Darrel frowned, tapping a nearby man on the shoulder to get his attention. "Excuse me, sir. What's going on?"

The man turned to Darrel, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Some strange folk calling themselves Team Plasma showed up wearing odd costumes a few minutes ago, and said their leader had something extremely important that he wished to share. Whatever that means…"

"That's a little weird," Darrel replied. "Well, I may as well wait and see what's so important."

We only had to wait around five minutes before a short line of people stepped up onto the stage that had been prepared in advance. Each of them were dressed in uniforms that looked like they were taken straight out of medieval times. Each uniform had an emblem of a blue 'P' with a line zigzagging behind it, almost like a lightning bolt. The two men on either end of the line were holding large banners with the same symbol. Who were these people, some kind of religious cult?

As the crowd continued to whisper, an older looking man wearing some kind of cloak walked up the stairs behind them. Instantly, I had a bad feeling about him. He had long, grayish green hair, and one of his eyes was covered by a red lens that reminded me of a spy gadget. The same emblem from before was visible on the front of his cloak, as if it were a central piece of his outfit. When he spoke, his voice was deep and authoritative.

"My name is Ghetsis. I am here representing Team Plasma. Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about Pokemon liberation." Yep, totally a cult.  
The crowd burst out into murmurs, but Ghetsis ignored them. "I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokemon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However… Is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans… only assume that this is the truth?" At this point, the crowd had gone silent, listening to what the crazy looking man had to say.

"Pokemon are subject to the selfish commands of trainers… They get pushed around when they are our "partners" at work…" He paused for a moment. "Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I am saying?"

The murmurs returned in full force, and with my enhanced hearing, I was able to pick out some of what was being said. "I-I don't know…" A woman said "That's ridiculous!" An older man said. I was shocked. While most of the crowd weren't taking him seriously, I noticed that here and there, a few trainers had begun to question themselves. How could they be falling for this crazy man's lies? He was probably on drugs or something. I was honestly surprised the authorities hadn't shown up yet.

I was interrupted from my pondering as Ghetsis began to wrap up his speech. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, Pokemon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called Pokemon? That's right! We must liberate the Pokemon! Then, and only then, will humans and Pokemon truly be equals. Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and Pokemon… and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention."  
Without another word, or even a glance at the crowd, Ghetsis and the rest of Team Plasma picked up their banners, and left down the road in the direction of Striaton City, probably to hold another speech. I scoffed. "People are crazy these days. What was he even talking about? He's an idiot if he expects people to listen," I said to Ivy as the crowd began to disperse.

Ivy frowned. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. Listen."

"About that speech… What do you think we should do?" A man said.

"I'm not sure… Maybe he's right. Are my Pokemon really happy?" said a woman, pulling out a pokeball. I gasped in shock as she flipped a switch on the ball, releasing the Pokemon inside. Permanently. The Deerling that appeared looked confused.

"Go on, you're free. Now you can be happy," The woman said, turning her back to the grass type. The Deerling tried to protest, its eyes beginning to mist up, but the woman didn't listen. Dejected, the Deerling dipped its head and sadly wandered off into the nearby woods.

"What the hell is she thinking?!" I exclaimed. "Some weird guy in a cloak appears and tells you to release your Pokemon, and you listen to him?! That poor Deerling looked crushed!"

Ivy glared at the woman in disgust. "You're right. She pretty much just abandoned that poor thing! If I get my vines on her…" Her voice trailed off, dripping with hate.

Darrel looked at us with an amused smirk. "What do you guys think? Should I listen to that crazy drug lord looking guy and let you free?"

Ivy laughed and slapped him on the shoulder with a vine. "Of course not, you dummy! We're your friends! Her especially!" I smiled as she pointed to me, glad to have Ivy as a friend.

"Alright, alright! Geez, I was just joking around!" Darrel said with a chuckle of his own.

Suddenly, a young man that appeared to be around Darrel's age walked up to us. There was a Zorua perched on his shoulder. "Your Pokemon… Just now, it was saying that it wanted to stay with you. I-I've never heard a Pokemon say that before…"  
Darrel waved his hands. "Whoa, whoa. Back up. My Pokemon were saying..? You mean you can understand them? Who are you, anyways?"

A sad frown passed over the stranger's face. "Oh. Then, you can't hear it, either… How sad. My name is N."

Darrel gave a kind smile. "My name is Darrel, and these are my friends, Fern and Ivy."

Ivy and I gave small waves, while a look of surprise crossed N's face. "Your… friends? So you aren't like the others, then. I am happy that you consider your Pokemon as more than just business partners. That is a rare sight nowadays…"

Darrel gave us a smile. "Of course they're my friends! I would never force them to do anything they don't want to. You said my Pokemon said they wanted to stay with me. Are you able to talk to them?"

N smiled slightly. "Yes. I was raised mostly by Pokemon after I lost my real parents when I was young. I guess I just happened to pick up on the way they spoke after so long being around them."

Ivy gasped suddenly. "Fern! Tell him about your past! He can tell Darrel for you!"  
I shook my head sadly. "I can't. The only way I will be able to talk with Darrel is if he isn't directly told. I'm assuming that rule was put in place so I couldn't just find a psychic with telepathy and cheat the system, but I'm sure that this still counts. I'm not worried, though. I'm starting to get a few ideas on how to get through to him."

As we were talking, the Zorua that was on N's shoulder hopped down to greet us. "Hello. I'm Willow. It's nice to meet you." She said with a polite smile.

"I'm Ivy. Nice to meet you as well," Ivy shook Willow's paw with a vine. Willow turned to me. "And you are?"

"My name is Fern. It's a pleasure to me-" As soon as I made eye contact with Willow, my head throbbed, causing me to gasp and clutch it with my front paws. A line of light pierced my vision, almost like an arrow. The line then expanded to fill my vision entirely.

When my vision returned, I could see a young girl, probably around the age of ten, playing in the woods behind a row of houses. I tried to figure out where I was, but I didn't recognize my surroundings. When I tried to call out to the girl, no words left my mouth. Was I dreaming?

I was ripped from my thoughts when the girl suddenly let out an ear piercing scream. While she was playing in a nearby creek, the girl had accidentally into a large tree. Bright red eyes appeared all throughout the tree, and a loud buzzing began to fill the air. Beedrill.

'_Crap crap crap!' _I thought as the Beedrill swarmed the unlucky girl with stingers glowing purple in the form of Poison Jab. I tried to yell out to the girl to run, but there was nothing I could do but watch as the Beedrill brutally attacked the young girl. After a few minutes, the Beedrill returned to their nest, apparently satisfied with their work. Looking at the girl, I felt like I was going to vomit. She was covered from head to toe with stab wounds from the Beedrill's stingers, each bleeding heavily. Poison could be seen oozing from the wounds, as well, and didn't take long for me to realize the girl was dead.

'_Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!' _I thought, terrified out of my mind. Suddenly, my headache returned, and the light faded from my vision as quickly as it had appeared.

Looked around frantically, I noticed that everyone was staring at me. I shook myself, trying to rid myself of the horrible event I had just witnessed, and turned back to Willow. She was staring at me with widened eyes. "You're reborn!" She said, causing me to nearly choke on my spit.

"How did you-"

"I saw your death. You were killed by a drunk driver while riding your bike. What did you see?"

My head felt like it was spinning. "I-I saw a girl in the forest. She accidentally disturbed a Beedrill nest. T-they killed her."

Willow gave a sad smile. "I thought so. Whenever two reborns meet and lock eyes for the first time, they are given a vision of the other's death."

"You mean that you're..?" I said, trying to process the sudden turn of events.

Willow nodded. "Yes. I'm the girl you saw. After I was killed, Giratina came to me and offered me a second chance, with the reasoning that it wasn't time for me to die yet. I agreed, and the next thing I know, I'm hatching from a Zorua egg. I met N shortly after, and have been sticking with him ever since."

I frowned. "Does he know?"

"Yeah, he knows. I'm not sure if he believes me fully or not, though. We can tell him about you, if you'd like.

"No, I'd prefer we don't," I said quickly. "Mew made a deal with me. If I can get Darrel to figure out who I am without being directly told, then he will be able to understand me. If N tells him, then it will ruin that opportunity forever."

"One issue with that. I think he heard us," Willow said, pointing to her trainer. He was looking at us with an intrigued look on his face.

"Interesting…" He said simply.

"Oh crap," I said.

Willow gave me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. He won't let your secret slip unless you want him too. N highly respects Pokemon, but isn't fond of other humans. Since you were reborn as an Eevee, he'll just take that as a sign that you are pure of heart. Otherwise you wouldn't have been gifted your second life. Trust me; your secret is safe with him."

I gave N a hopeful look, and he put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. I sighed in relief.

"Er… Sorry to interrupt, but I'm extremely lost here," Ivy said, causing me to blush in embarrassment. I had completely forgotten about her in the craziness of the last couple of minutes.

"Sorry, Ivy. I didn't mean to leave you out of the conversation." I said apologetically.

"It's fine. I can see that this is an important moment for you," Ivy replied with a quick smile.

"I would like to battle you, Darrel," N said suddenly, causing us to look up at him in surprise. "I am interested in learning more about why your Pokemon care so much about you."

Darrel grinned confidently. "Sure. I only have these two so far, so is two on two alright with you?"

N nodded. "That works for me as well." He threw a pokeball. "Let me hear the voices of your Pokemon once more!"

As a Purrloin appeared on the ground in front of N, Darrel looked to Ivy. "You want to give this one a go?" Ivy smirked, giving a thumbs up before jumping onto the impromptu battlefield.

"Let us begin! Purrloin, use Scratch, my friend!" With a yowl, the Purrloin lunged with claws extended, raking them across Ivy's side. She let out a grunt of pain before quickly firing back with Leer.

The Purrloin let out a hiss, flinching away as it's defense was lowered. Ivy followed up by rushing forward with a Tackle, slamming herself into the Purrloin. Struggling to its feet, Purrloin struck out with another Scratch, causing Ivy to flinch.

"Use Vine Whip!" Darrel called. Nodding, Ivy lashed out her vines at the Purrloin, sending it to the ground.

It attempted to get back to its feet, but with one final grunt of pain, the Purrloin fell unconscious. Ivy let out a sigh of relief at her victory, but she hadn't made it out of the fight unscathed. She was breathing heavily due to exhaustion, and had several claw marks covering her body. She definitely wouldn't be able to take out Willow in her current state.

N returned his Purrloin with a smile. "You did well, my friend. Take a long rest." He turned to Willow. "Looks like you're up."

Nodding, Willow jumped onto the battlefield. Darrel looked at Ivy in concern. "You're too injured to continue right now," he said. "Let Fern battle for now. I'll call you if I need you again." He rose her pokeball to return her-

"Pursuit!" In an instant, Willow was right next to Ivy. She gave her an apologetic look before smashing a glowing paw into her. The double powered Pursuit did the trick. With a cry of pain, Ivy finally collapsed. Darrel quickly returned her. "Not bad. But I'm not out of this fight just yet. Fern, you're up."  
Giving a quick nod, I jumped onto the battlefield. "Good idea with that Pursuit. Don't expect me to go easy on you because we're in the same boat, though!" I said with a smirk.

Willow grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way." Those were the last words we exchanged before the battle began. Willow disappeared into a Pursuit, and I flinched as I felt her claws dig into my side. Quickly spinning around, I kicked up dust into her face with a Sand Attack, before charging forward with a Tackle.

As I made contact with her, Willow lashed out with a scratch, but due to the Sand Attack, she only managed to graze my side. The impact was enough to send her to the ground, although she managed to get back onto her feet rather quickly.

I winced in pain as Willow managed to snag me with another Pursuit. This wasn't going as well as I'd hoped. I attempted another Tackle, and was rewarded by being hit by another Scratch as I made contact. Tackle wasn't going to cut it if I wanted this win. While we were both starting to tire out, Willow was clearly in better shape than I was. If this kept up, there was no way I would be able to win.

Almost as if by magic, I felt something click inside me. Taking a running start, I jumped headfirst into the ground, burrowing through the dirt as if it were made of butter. As Willow frantically looked around the field in an attempt to locate me, I began to burrow under where she was standing. I don't know how I was able to tell where she was when I was three feet underground, but that didn't matter right now. Giving a cry, I burst from the ground directly beneath Willow.

The Dig attack connected, and Willow was sent flying across the battlefield with a yelp of pain. Making sure to not waste my opportunity, I ran after her. Willow had about two seconds to attempt to get to her feet before I barreled into her.

I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that Willow had finally collapsed, my unexpected combo being too much for her to take.

N walked over and picked Willow up, before spraying her with a Super Potion. Her nose twitched for a moment, before she opened her eyes with a groan. "Guess I lost then," She said to no one in particular, before turning to me. "Good fight. I didn't know you knew how to use Dig."

I chuckled sheepishly. "I didn't either. It kind of just… happened, you know?"

Willow gave a soft laugh. "Yeah, that's how most attacks are learned once you start battling. I learned Pursuit the same way, actually."

"You did well, Willow," N said with a slight smile. "It looks like Fern just outclassed us by a bit."

"I guess so," Willow said, before grinning. "We'll just have to beat you the next time we meet!"

N walked over to Darrell. "It was nice to meet someone who cares for Pokemon as much as I do. Not even half an hour ago, I believed that Pokemon suffered under the reign of humans, but you have given me a lot to consider. I feel like this isn't the last we will see of each other, so if you wouldn't mind, I would like to have another battle when the time comes so I can see your bond with your Pokemon once again." Turning to leave, N gave a slight wave. "Until our paths cross again." With that said, he began to head down the road towards the Pokemon Center.

"Well, it was fun!" Willow said with a grin. "I guess I better go catch up with N before he gets too far. See you later!" She gave us a little wave with one of her front paws, before turning and running off in the direction N had disappeared.

"Interesting guy, huh?" Darrel asked us with a smile. "It would be neat to be able to talk to you guys like he can, but I guess some things just aren't meant to be. You ready to hit the road? We can heal up Ivy at the Pokemon Center next to Route 2, and then we can be off to Striaton City." I gave a happy "Vee" of approval, and smiled at what Darrel had said. _'Just you wait! One of these days I'll get you to find out who I am, and then we'll be able to talk to each other just as well as they can!'_

In a rather good mood, I followed Darrel as we started to head towards the entrance to Route 2. My thoughts went back to Willow. _'How many of us are there in the world? Reborns, she called us. She also acted as if I wasn't the first reborn that she had met. Otherwise she wouldn't have known about the visions. I'll have to ask her more about it whenever I see her again.' _ with those thoughts dancing in my mind, we made our way towards the Pokemon Center to prepare for our journey to Striaton City.

* * *

**AN: So, what do you think? I decided to make the first reborn that Fern meets someone who she will encounter several times throughout her adventure. Giving N a reborn allowed for this, as well as set up a few changes to the story of BW that I want to cover. For example, I have a reason for having Willow's death be in the form of a Pokemon attack, but we'll touch on that another time. For now, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Make sure to leave a review to let me know what you thought of it, as well as try and guess what the Easter egg I added was. That's all I have for now, though, so I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hello everyone! I know it's been a few weeks since the last update, and I apologize for the delay. College kept getting in the way and will most likely continue to do so every now and then. On the bright side, the away time from the story has given me a chance to look over what I have done so far and allowed me to come up with a MAJOR change to how the story will progress in comparison to the games. You will see the beginnings of that this chapter, combined with the little bit you may have noticed from last chapter.**

**I wanted to respond to a review that I was unable to reply to, so I'll just do that before I set you guys free to the chapter!**

**Sunburst: I'm so glad that you are enjoying the story so far! I definitely plan on continuing this story, even if there may be times where I vanish for a few weeks between posts. This is already becoming my personal favorite story I've written so far, and I have tons of plans for this story already lined up! A little fun fact; "A Little Night Music" was the first fan-fiction I ever read all the way through. Since then, I've read a good majority of the higher end Pokemon stories on this sight, but I always loved the concepts behind ALNM, and have always felt that they had such amazing potential. That's the reason I came up with the idea of this fic in the first place, actually!**

**That's all I have to say, so I'll let you guys get into the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 7

"According to my map, Striaton City is just a few miles away!" Darrel said with a grin as we made our way down the dirt path that made up Route 2.

Stretching my back out with a groan, I turned to Ivy. "Ugh… I can't wait until we get to Striaton City. Being on the road for nearly a week is really starting to wear me down."

"Don't exhaust yourself too much. Don't forget that we have a gym battle to attend today!" Ivy said with an amused smirk.

I gave her a confident grin. "How could I forget? We've been training all week for it!"

That wasn't an exaggeration, either. Every day since we left Accumula Town, Darrel made it a habit to battle every trainer we came across, and every night after dinner Ivy and I would spar with each other. This constant training led to Ivy managed to learn Wrap, Growth and Leaf Tornado, while I managed to pick up Baby-Doll Eyes, Swift and Quick Attack. I'm almost positive that those moves will come in handy. You couldn't possibly understand how good it feels to finally have a ranged attack.

"Hey, look!" Ivy suddenly exclaimed pointing with a vine. "Is that Striaton City?"

I hopped up onto Darrel's shoulder to get a better view. "Yeah! That's it!" I let out a cheer. "Civilization, here we come!"

Darrel seemed to have noticed the city in the distance as well as he closed the map application on his pokedex and gave a sigh of relief. "Looks like we finally made it. Let's get you two to the Pokemon Center and prepare for our gym battle. It will no doubt be our hardest fight yet."  
I shrugged. "I doubt it will be all that bad. We've trained way to much for us to struggle too much. It's only our first gym, after all!"

* * *

Sometime later, We exited the Striaton City Pokemon Center and began to make our way towards the Striaton Gym. Ivy turned to me with a curious expression. "Hey, Fern?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what type the Striaton City gym leader specializes in?"

I turned to her in surprise. "Wait, we've been training for a week and you don't even know what type of gym we'll be facing?"

Ivy blushed in embarrassment and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Err… It kind of slipped my mind."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter all that much with this first one," I said. "The Striaton gym actually has three gym leaders. They're triplets, if I remember correctly. Each of them focuses on a different type. Cilan trains grass types, Chile trains fire types, and Cress trains water types."

"That's odd. Do we have to have three gym battles, then?" Ivy asked with a frown. "I'm not sure if I can handle three tough fights in a row."

"Nope, just one. Since most trainers in Unova begin their journey with a Snivy, Tepig or Oshawott, and Striaton is usually most trainers first gym, trainers will actually always face the gym leader the starter they chose is weak against." Now it was my turn to frown. "Although now that I think about it, I'm a normal type. I'm not sure how that will work when they determine who we will face."

My ears perked up as I spotted our destination in the distance. "Look, there it is!"

Ivy gave me a funny look. "Fern, I'm pretty sure that's a restaurant."

As we made our way into the building, I hopped up onto Darrel's shoulder. "Just wait. You'll see." Ivy gave me a confused look, before hopping up onto Darrel's other shoulder.

Darrel approached the front desk, where he was greeted by a waitress holding a small notepad. She gave a rehearsed smile. "Welcome to the Striaton Battle Cafe. How many will we be serving today?"

"One trainer and two small Pokemon, please." Darrel said with a quick smile.

Jotting something in her notepad, the waitress gestured for Darrel to follow her. "Right this way, please."

We were seated at a small booth next to a window, where the waitress handed Darrel a menu that was decorated with the three elemental monkeys. "Would you like any refreshments?" The waitress asked.

Looking over the menu, Darrel decided to keep it simple. "One Lemonade for me. Do they come in smaller sizes? I was thinking about getting my Pokemon one."

"Of course!" The waitress said with a smile as she wrote Darrel's order in her notepad. "Your drinks will be out shortly." With a respectful bow, the waitress went on her way.

Ivy turned to me as we hopped onto the table next to Darrel. "Not that I don't appreciate getting some Lemonade, but I still don't see how this could possibly be the gym."

I chuckled. "Like I said, you'll just have to wait and see. I don't want to ruin the surprise. Trust me, you'll love it!"

"If you say so," Ivy said with a sigh. After a few minutes, we were approached by a trio of waiters that I recognized instantly.

"Hello. My name is Cilan and these are my brothers Cress and Chile. We will be your waiters this morning," said the green haired one, now known as Cilan. "Have you decided on a meal for today?"

Standing from his seat, Darrel smirked. "I'll have the secret menu item, if it's no trouble to you."

"Secret menu item..?" Ivy said, completely lost. The triplets seemed to understand, however, and grinned.

Chile pulled a small remote out of his pocket. "I had a feeling you would say that. As the gym leaders of Striaton City, we will gladly accept your challenge!" He pointed the remote at a suspiciously undecorated section of the wall and pressed a button. I hopped off the table and as a pair of hidden doors slowly opened to reveal a battlefield, complete with an already assembling audience.

Ivy gaped at the sight, while I grinned at her. "Told you you'd like it!" Realizing her mouth was hanging open, Ivy shook her head and quickly followed as we were lead into the large chamber that housed the battlefield.

Tuning to face us, Chile grinned. "I take it that Snivy was your first Pokemon?"

"No, actually," Darrel said with a small grin. "Fern, my Eevee, was my starter. I hatched her myself. Professor Juniper gave me Ivy here as a gift when I left after…" His voice trailed off.

The triplets gave each other a confused glance, but luckily they decided not to press the matter, and Chile smirked. "Well, either way, since you have a Snivy, you will be facing me for the chance at a Trio Badge!"

As Chile and Darrel took their places at opposite sides of the field, a referee took his pace next to the field. "This will be a two-on-two battle between the Challenger Darrel Lewis of Nuvema Town and Chile of the Striaton Gym. The final trainer with any Pokemon remaining will be declared the winner. Trainers, please select your first Pokemon!"

Chile unclipped a pokeball from his belt and released a Lillipup onto the field. Giving it a short glance, Darrel quickly decided on his choice. "Ivy, you're up."

Nodding in understanding, Ivy ran out onto the battlefield before getting into a battle stance. Chile decided to take the initiative. "Lillipup, start with Work Up!"

Darrel frowned as Lillipup began to let off a red glow, boosting itself at an alarming rate. "We need to keep up, Ivy! Use Growth!"

Ivy nodded, and began to let off a green grow, boosting herself in a similar manner to her opponent. Chile seemed undeterred, shouting out a command. "Bite!"

As the Lillipup ran towards Ivy, Darrel quickly called out a counter. "Stop it in its tracks with Vine Whip!" A pair of vines erupted from Ivy's back as she attempted to snatch the Lillipup off the ground before it could reach her. Realizing quickly that she wouldn't be able to get her attack off in time, she quickly changed plans, pulling her vines in front of her to soften the blow she was about to receive.

Ivy winced as the Lillipup's teeth sunk into one of her vines, but with the Lillipup latched to one of her vines, she took the opportunity to lift it off of the ground and slam it into one of the large rocks that made littered the arena. As the Lillipup slowly rose to its feet, Ivy took the opening as a chance to set up another Growth.

Looking slightly concerned, Chile called out to his Pokemon. "Come on, Lillipup! Just a little more! Use Bite one more time!" Lillipup followed orders instantly, charging towards Ivy once more with glowing teeth, although it was moving slightly slower this time due to the damage it had received.

"Use Leaf Tornado!" Darrel called, seeing an opening. Ivy grinned, doing a spin as a flurry of spinning leaves spun up above her. As soon as the Lillipup got close to her, she fired. With a yelp, Lillipup was lifted off of the ground and flung through the air by the vortex of grass type energy, colliding with a large rock.

Breathing heavily, Ivy smirked in victory as the Lillipup crumpled to the ground with swirls in its eyes. Even with all of our training, she had only learned Leaf Tornado a day before we arrived in Striaton City, and it still took a lot out of her whenever she used it.

I gave a small cheer. "Good job, Ivy! Just one more and we win!"

Ivy turned and gave me a thumbs up as the referee raised his flag. "Lillipup is unable to battle; Snivy is the winner! Gym leader, please select your final Pokemon."

Recalling his downed Lillipup, Chile flashed a grin to Darrel. "Not bad! It's not everyday that we see a trainer ready to counter our setups!" Switching Lillipup's pokeball with a great ball, he smirked. "Don't think you've won just yet, though! I've still got one more Pokemon, and now I'm all fired up!" He threw the great ball onto the field. I was unsurprised when his Pansear appeared in a flash of light. I had been expecting this. Hopefully Ivy could get some decent hits in before she goes down, or else I could be in trouble if it gets a Work Up or two off.

Wasting no time, Chile issued a command. "Pansear, don't underestimate that Snivy! It has two Growths set up!" Nodding in understanding, Pansear began to glow red as it boosted itself with Work Up.

"Ivy, Don't let it get close, Use Leaf Tornado!" Darrel called. Giving a cry, Ivy once again wrapped herself in a vortex of leaves before firing the swirling mass at Pansear.

Chile smirked. "Use Incinerate! Blast right through that attack!" Pansear leaped into the air and launched a stream of fire straight into the Leaf Tornado. Ivy gasped as her strongest attack was reduced to ash, and she was unable to get out of the way before she was enveloped by the fire attack. Already exhausted from her battle with Lillipup and the use of two Leaf Tornadoes, the fire attack proved to be too much for her to handle. When the smoke from the attack faded, Ivy was revealed to be laying flat on her belly with swirls in her eyes, completely out cold.

Giving a nod, the referee raised a flag. "Snivy is unable to battle; Pansear is the Winner! Challenger, please select your final Pokemon."

Darrel returned the singed Snivy and looked down at her ball with a smile. "You did good, Ivy. Take a good rest, Fern can handle the rest." As he turned to me, I gave him a confident grin and nodded, already knowing what was coming next. I jumped onto the battlefield and faced Chile's Pansear, giving a soft growl.

Pansear flinched slightly as it's attack was lowered, neutralizing its stats, before rushing at me with extended claws. "Dodge that Fury Swipes with Quick Attack!" Darrel called. Heeding his advice, I leapt out of the way with a trail of white light following behind me. Pansear's attack hit open air, and it looked around frantically in an attempt to spot me.

Taking advantage of my speed, I slammed my body into Pansear's body, causing it to let out a cry of pain as it was knocked off its feet. I attempted to land another Quick Attack, but Chile was prepared this time. "Pansear, Incinerate at nine o'clock!" With my rush of speed, I was unable to dodge the burst of flames that Pansear released directly into my face.

Letting out a cry of pain from the boosted Incinerate, I quickly rose back to my feet, although I was clearly favoring one of my forelegs over the other. Incinerate couldn't inflict a burn status, but it was still fire, so it could still leave a burn in the traditional sense, and my right foreleg had gotten quite a nasty one from the surprise attack.

Darrel called out to me in concern. "Are you alright, Fern? Can you continue?"

Turning to him, I gave a grin and a nod before turning back to my opponent. Pansear didn't seem much better off than me, but I wasn't sure if I could take another Incinerate in my current condition, so I needed to end this quickly.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. Deciding to trust my instincts, I launched myself towards Pansear with Quick Attack. The fire monkey seemed to expect this and prepared another Incinerate. It was too slow, however. As soon as I reached Pansear, I halted my Quick Attack and turned around, using my hind legs to kick sand into Pansear's face, causing an impromptu smokescreen to cloak the battlefield from view. The attack Pansear was charging dissipated as the fire type changed its focus to frantically trying to rub the sand out of its eyes. While the Pansear was blinded, I leapt into the air and burrowed my way into the field.

When the dust from my Sand Attack cleared, the only Pokemon on the field was Pansear. It looked around in a panic, trying to find where I had disappeared to. Due to my smokescreen, Chile was also unaware of my whereabouts, which allowed me plenty of time to burrow underneath of Pansear. Bursting from the ground with a cry, I slammed a paw into Pansear's chin. The super effective Dig launched Pansear completely off of the field and into the wall of the gym, where it left a monkey shaped indentation in the plaster before falling to the ground with a thud.

The referee ran over to the fallen monkey and raised his flag for the final time. "Pansear is unable to battle; Eevee is the winner! As the challenger is the only one with remaining Pokemon, I hereby declare Darrel Lewis the winner of this match!"

I flopped onto my belly in exhaustion as the crowd burst into cheers and applause, giving a sigh of relief for my hard fought win. I looked up as I felt Darrel wrap his arms around me and lift me off of the ground. "Great job, Fern! You did amazing!" he praised with a huge smile plastered on his face. "By the way, how did you come up with such a complex strategy on the fly like that? I know Professor Juniper said you had a more advanced brain than other Eevee, but that was something that is usually only seen from highly experienced trainers." He let out a chuckle. "I don't even know why I'm asking you this. I can't even understand you!" Darrel was interrupted from his thoughts as Chile made his way over to us.

I sighed. '_Not this time, I guess. At least I seem to be making progress.'_

Reaching into one of his pockets, Chile pulled out a small object wrapped in a red cloth. He unfolded the cloth, revealing a shiny Trio Badge sitting in his palm, and extended his hand to Darrel.

"This is the Trio Badge. It is proof of your victory here today," Chile said with a smile. Darrel accepted the badge and glanced at it with a grin on his face. "One down, seven to go," he said confidently. "See this, Fern? We won this because you and Ivy fought so well."

I gave the badge a curious sniff. Stupid Eevee instincts. It smelled of metal, which isn't all that surprising. As Darrel and I admired our prize, Cress spoke up. "So, I bet you and your Pokemon have got to be hungry after that tough battle. If you'd like, you can stick around for a free meal. It's a little something extra that we offer for challengers who manage to beat us."

Darrel considered it for a moment. "Well, I'd love to, but I need to go get Fern and Ivy healed up at the Pokemon Center. It wouldn't feel right having a victory feast without the ones who did all the hard work, after all!"

"You don't need to worry about that. You can use the gym's healing machine," Cilan offered. "It'll save you a trip."

Darrel gave the green haired man an appreciative smile. "Thank you, that would be great!"

* * *

We left the gym an hour or so later after enjoying a late lunch. "Whew, that sure hit the spot!" Ivy said, patting her gut.

"Speak for yourself," I grumbled. "I still can't eat solids for another two weeks! I was stuck with milk while I watched you and Darrel chow down! That food looked amazing!" I let out a sigh. "At least I was able to have that Lemonade."

Ivy gave me a sympathetic smile. "Just a couple more weeks, and you'll be done with those bottles for good! Once you get Darrel to understand you, just have him bring you back here."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I'll make sure I remember to do that!"

Suddenly, two men dressed in white uniforms rushed past us, nearly stepping on my tail. I let out a hiss. "Hey, watch the merchandise, buddy!"

Ivy blinked. "Wait, weren't those some of those Team Plasma weirdos?"

"Wait, you're right! I wonder what they're up to." I said, narrowing my eyes suspiciously.

"Thieves! Come back here with my research!" I spun around to see a young woman in a lab coat running up to us. She stopped in front of Darrel and put her hands on her knees, attempting to catch her breath.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Is something the matter?" Darrel asked worriedly.

"Two goons in weird costumes just nabbed my research and took off!" She gasped. "Wait, you're a trainer! Do you think you can help me get it back? It's very important to me!"

Darrel nodded instantly. "Yeah, I'll help you. Which way did they go?"

"I think they were heading for the Dreamyard," the woman said, pointing a finger towards the eastern gate. "It's just past that gate. You can't miss it!"  
"All right. You should go and call the police. I'll try to catch up with those thugs." Darrel said confidently.

Thank you so much for this! I don't know how I could ever repay you!" The woman said with damp eyes.

* * *

It wasn't difficult to find the Dreamyard. As we exited the gate, I spotted the two men from earlier hunched over next to a wall, trying to catch their breath. "I… I think we lost her," One of them said.

"Hey!" Darrel yelled. "Give me back the research you stole from that woman!"

The grunts looked up in surprise. "Oh, crud. We were followed!" One exclaimed.

The other pulled out a pokeball. "No matter. It's just some kid. We'll knock out his team and liberate his Pokemon!"

I let out a snarl. I knew something was fishy about Team Plasma. "Liberate this!" I yelled, launching a Swift directly at them.

Diving behind a pile of rubble, the grunts threw out a pair of pokeballs. "So that's how you want to play, is it? Fine! Purrloin, take out that pest with Scratch!"

Two Purrloin leapt at me with glowing claws, ready to strike. I jumped to the side to avoid one of them, who hissed in frustration as it tumbled past me. I looked up just as the second Purrloin attempted to lash out at me, and was surprised when it was slapped out of the air by a vine.

"Don't hog all the fun!" Ivy said with a smirk as she ran up to join me. She glared at the Purrloin she had launched as it got to its feet and hissed at her. "I'll take this one. Can you handle the other one?"

I snorted. "Of course!" With that, the battle was underway. I spun in the air, launching a flurry of stars at my opponent. The Purrloin hissed as the Swift connected before pouncing at me with another Scratch.

Leaping out of the way, I let out a growl. "Is that the only move your species can learn?"

The Purrloin hissed furiously and leapt at me with glowing claws. I grinned "Yep, I figured as much."

Deciding I had had enough, I leapt into the ground and began tunneling towards the Purrloin. It looked around in confusion for a few moments before the ground gave way beneath it. It yelped as the Dig connected, launching it across the clearing. It hit one of the aged walls of the facility and slumped to the ground.

Turning to see how Ivy was faring in her battle, I couldn't help but grin as I saw Ivy using her vines to smash the Purrloin into the ground repeatedly until it went still. She walked over to me and dusted herself off. "That was surprisingly easy," she said with a grin.

I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. "Ivy, they're trying to run!" Ivy acted immediately, spinning around and launching out a pair of vines. The retreating grunts were tripped as she wrapped a vine around their feet, and fell to the ground with a thud.

Darrel quickly ran up to them with a coil of Escape Rope, and tied the struggling thugs to a tree. He glared at the men. "You lost. Now give us back the research you stole."

The grunts looked between themselves, before one of them tossed a folder onto the ground in front of Darrel. "Fine! Take the stupid papers! I don't even know why the boss wanted them, anyways." Darrel snatched the folder off the ground before narrowing his eyes at the men. "Who are you working for? Your group claimed they were going to liberate Pokemon in Accumula Town. What are you plotting?"

The grunts laughed. "We don't have to tell you anything. Just know this. In about eight months, this region will be under Team Plasma's control."

"Eight months..? But that's..!" Darrel was interpreted by the growing sound of police sirens. He sighed when he saw a police cruiser rapidly approaching. "Dammit, we're out of time."

As soon as the police car came to a stop, an officer got out of the vehicle and came up to Darrell. Noticing the two men tied to a tree that matched the report he was given, he pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Are these the guys?"

Darrel gave a nod. "Yeah, they ran off with some research papers and attacked us when we came after them."

Writing something down, the officer quickly handcuffed the thugs before loading them into his cruiser. Afterwards, he made his way over to Darrel once again and shook his hand. "Thank you for the assistance in apprehending these crooks. Who knows how far they might have gotten if you hadn't shown up."

"It was no problem at all, officer. I couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Besides, it was my Pokemon who did all the hard work." Darrel said, rubbing the back of his neck.

The officer glanced Ivy and I over, and raised an eyebrow. "You must be a pretty strong trainer. It doesn't look like they even took a hit!" Ivy grinned and gave the officer a thumbs up at the praise, causing me to roll my eyes in amusement.

After a quick explanation of what had occurred after we pursued the grunts, the officer wished Darrel a good evening and left to bring the two Plasma grunts to the city jail.

* * *

As soon as we reentered Striaton City, the woman from before ran up to us with a massive smile on her face. "The police officer told me what happened! Thank you so much for getting my research back! I Don't know what I would have done if I had lost it!"

Darrel smiled. "It was no problem. Really! I'm just glad we could help. My Pokemon did all the hard work."

"No, I need to repay you for this," The woman said, reaching into a bag. After a couple moments of digging, she pulled out a small box and handed it to Darrel.

He looked at it in confusion. "What's this?"

"Open it and see!"

Shrugging, Darrel lifted the lid off of the box, and gasped at what was inside. "I-I can't accept this! It's too much!"

The woman laughed. "I've been building up that research for nearly a decade! That is honestly the least I felt I could give you. Besides, I don't have any Pokemon that can make use of those items. They are worthless to me."

Darrel smiled. "Well, in that case, I'll gladly accept them. Thank you so much Miss..?"

The woman blushed fiercely. "OH my goodness! I can't believe I haven't introduced myself. How rude of me. My name is Fennel. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Darrel shook her hand. "My name is Darrel, and these are my partners, Fern and Ivy."

Fennel gave him a smile. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's try them on!"

Darrel chuckled before pulling two items out of the box. There was a comfortable looking white scarf with a simple pattern, which I recognized as a Silk Scarf, and a small necklace with a Miracle Seed as it's centerpiece. Darrel handed the necklace to Ivy, who instantly put it around her neck and gave him a hug out of joy. He laughed at her antics as he gently wrapped the scarf around my neck. I gave a happy "Vee" of thanks and blinked as I felt a rush of power surge through me. _'Must be the Silk Scarf boosting my strength.'_

Ivy grinned at me. "That scarf looks nice on you! How does my necklace look?"

"It looks nice," I said after giving her fancy new held item a look. "Did you feel stronger when you put it on?"

"Yeah, it felt like my grass type moves got a power boost! Did the same thing happen to you?" She asked curiously.

I nodded. "Yep, although it was for my Normal Attacks."

"So, where are you heading now?" Fennel asked.

"Well, let's see…" Darrel mused, pulling out his pokedex and opening his map. "According to this, the next gym is located in Nacrene City, so I guess we'll be heading that way starting tomorrow. It's too late to hit the road tonight, so I'm going to grab a room at the Pokemon Center and head out at the brink of dawn."

"Ooh, Nacrene City is a lovely place! I went there on holiday last summer!" Fennel gushed. "They have a really nice science museum! You should definitely check it out if you get the chance!"

"I'll make sure to do that, thank you," Darrel said, before looking at his watch. "Oh, I should probably get to the Pokemon Center before it gets too late! It was nice meeting you, Fennel. Thank you for the gifts. I'm sure my team will make good use of them."

I yawned as we entered our room in the Pokemon Center. It had taken a little longer than we had hoped to get checked in, and the sun had set long before we managed to get into our room. Between the gym battle and running after Team Plasma, I was absolutely exhausted. As soon as Darrel returned Ivy and I to our luxury ball, we headed straight to bed. As I drifted off to sleep, I couldn't help but hope that today would be the last we would hear from Team Plasma. Boy, was I wrong.

**AN: Whew! I hope you guys all enjoyed the chapter. This was easily the longest chapter of the story so far, measuring at just over 5000 words! Darrel has earned the Trio Badge and seen the true colors of Team Plasma. Next, it's onwards towards Nacrene City! But first, it's about time I introduced the next party member. Who could it be? Well, you'll find out next time! I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


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